Final answer:
The formula to determine the number of possible gametes produced by a cell with six pairs of homologous chromosomes is 2^n, where n is the number of chromosomes per set. Humans have 23 chromosome pairs, resulting in over eight million different combinations of paternal and maternal chromosomes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The formula to determine the number of possible gametes produced by a cell with six pairs of homologous chromosomes is 2^n, where n is the number of chromosomes per set. Since humans have 23 chromosome pairs, there would be 2^23 possible genetically-distinct gametes. This results in over eight million different combinations of paternal and maternal chromosomes.