Abbreviation: 'mb' Summary: determine how large a pedigree may be analyzed Argument: < number of bits > Default: displays the current setting
Because of the time and memory requirements of the mapping algorithms in GENEHUNTER, a maximum pedigree size must be set to keep the computations within the ability of the computer it is running on. The memory and time required are directly proportional to the number of bits in the inheritance vector (number of meioses being examined). This number is 2N - F where F is the number of founders in the pedigree and N is the number of non-founders. For example, a pedigree consisting of two parents and their 4 children would have a size = 2N-F = 6. Entirely uninformative individuals such as individuals in the last generation of a pedigree that are ungenotyped are not included in this figure as they will not be analyzed.
On most workstations, setting the value to 15 or 16 will be a reasonable limit. If pedigrees exceed the size that may be computed under the current 'max bits' setting, individuals may be dropped or the pedigree may be skipped (depending on the setting of 'skip large' - see below). The default setting of 'max bits' is 16.