A phenotype is an observable characteristic of an organism, arising from its genotype, environment and other influences. Seed shape is a phenotype; is a genotype. The distinction prevents appearance from being mistaken for a complete inherited description. See NHGRI: phenotype.
For a specified binary phenotype , let its penetrance in genotype be . The law of total probability gives . Thus the ideal example has : the familiar follows only when these penetrances are . A pedigree likelihood keeps inheritance and the conditional phenotype model as separate factors.