When studying a population, the "p" symbol is used to represent the frequency of _____.

When studying a population in statistics, the "p" symbol is used to represent the frequency of a particular characteristic or event, also known as the proportion or probability. This could be anything from the proportion of individuals in a population with a certain trait, to the probability of an event occurring.

Here are the steps to calculate it:

1. Identify the total number of individuals or events in the population. This is your denominator.
2. Identify the number of individuals or events that have the characteristic you're interested in. This is your numerator.
3. Divide the numerator by the denominator. The result is the proportion or probability, represented by "p".

For example, if you have a population of 100 people, and 25 of them have blue eyes, the "p" for blue eyes would be 25/100 = 0.25.