Question: how many chromosomes does a parent cell have at the beginning of meiosis?
Answer: The number of chromosomes is reduced from 46 (23 pairs) to 23 during the process of meiosis. Because they have only half the total chromosomes in a somatic cell, they are termed haploid (n). In a human egg or sperm, there are 23 chromosomes, one of which is an X or Y.