eli5: How does reproduction work if we need 46 chromosomes to function, gametes have 23 chromosomes, but traits are inherited from both parents?

Question

I understand that our chromosomes come from adding the ones in our parents’ sperm and egg cells, but we don’t have the exact chromosomes from our parents gametes, right? But once they combine genetic information, how does that still end up as 2 separate chromosomes?

In: Biology

Answer 1

It’s better to think of it as having 23 pairs of chromosomes.
Half of each pair comes from each parent.
Each of these pairs is a matched set, with only very minor variations between all of humanity.

There’s only about a 0.6% difference between any two human beings alive right now.
There’s a less than 2% difference between us and a chimpanzee, and that’s enough to stop the matching from working.