in a population that is in hardy weingbergequilibrium 16 percent of individual show recessive trait. what is frequency of dominant allele in population? a. 0.84

If 16% of the population shows the recessive trait, then that figure (16%) accounts for all the homozygous (hh) recessive individuals in that population.

This is one of most classical cases of applying a quadratic equation to the life sciences. One must also understand that this is a classical “Mendelian” genetics problem.

Heterozygyous individuals (Hh) [inferably] do not express the homozygous recessive condition for this particular allele, but follow a traditional dominant expression. Classical genetics relies on these formally declared values.

The remaining 84% of the population does not show for the recessive trait.

That 84% includes both homozygous “purely” dominant (HH) or heterozygous (Hh) “hybrid” individuals for that allele, according to classical genetics and Punnet squares.