5.5. Applications in Genetics

Try these first

1. 1.

   What three operations constitute Edit Distance?

   Hint

   Think about how you can change one word to another.

2. 2.

   Calculate the Edit Distance: 'cat' to 'cut'.

   Hint

   What's the difference in the characters?

3. 3.

   What does Edit Distance measure?

   • Distance between strings
   • Number of edits needed
   • Length of the texts

   Hint

   Think about what it takes to change one word into another.

4. 4.

   True or False: The Levenshtein distance allows only insertions and deletions.

   • True
   • False

   Hint

   Remember the three types of edits.

5. 5.

   Given two words, 'abc' and 'def', compute the Edit Distance and discuss its implications.

   Hint

   How many characters do you need to change to make them equal?

6. 6.

   In a genetic study, the sequences 'ACGTACG' and 'ACGTTCG' have an Edit Distance of 1. Explain what that implies about the species represented by these sequences.

   Hint

   Focus on how small changes can imply close relationships in biology.