17 genetic distance in 111 YDNA

[NayefAlessa]

Hi,
if i have two kits that in YDNA-111 have 17 genetic distance, so whats the common generation would be ? is the both kits related or not ?

[Jim Barrett]

If the 'Learning Center' was working you could check there and get an estimate, but it has been down for several days with a message that it will be up soon. It was down at least two days before that message was posted.

You can add Family Finder to both kits. If they match, FTDNA will provide an estimated relationship.

What is the genetic distance between the two kits at 37 and 67 markers?

[KATM]

If the 'Learning Center' was working you could check there and get an estimate, but it has been down for several days with a message that it will be up soon. It was down at least two days before that message was posted.

I do wonder if there is some update going on with the Learning Center.

But, in the meantime, "where there's a will, there's a way" (as they say). The "Wayback Machine" gives us a version of the "Expected Relationships with Y-DNA STR Matches" page from the Learning Center, as of 27 March 2019. For Y-DNA 111, with a genetic distance greater than 10, the table on that page says:

Not Related

>10

You are not related on your Y-chromosome lineage within recent or distant genealogical times (one to 15 generations).

The above page shows expected relationships for Y-STR tests from 12 to 111 markers, with genetic distances ranging from 0 to greater than 10 (but not all genetic distances at all STR levels).

Another page, "If two men share a surname, how should the genetic distance at 111 Y-chromosome STR markers be interpreted?" (last version saved from 25 June 2019), says

In cultures where surnames are passed from father to son, there is additional evidence beyond a DNA match that two men who share a surname are related. Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) test results should be interpreted based on both this information and the actual results.

The interpretation comment on the latter page, for a greater than 10 genetic distance at Y-DNA 111, is

The two men are totally unrelated within the genealogical time-frame on their direct paternal line. Their shared ancestry is historical or anthropological.

This may answer NayefAlessa's question, whether or not a surname is shared with the match at a genetic difference of 17.

[KATM]

I forgot to mention, for NayefAlessa, that you can click on the "TiP" button (an orange-colored button found under the match's name in your Y-DNA match list) to get a probability of the relationship between the match and the person tested. There are several pages on using the TiP calculator in the Learning Center, for which you can find descriptions and links to view them, on the linked page (from Wayback Machine, as of 24 Oct. 2019).

One is "What is FTDNATiP™? How is it different than other matching tools?" where it says

FTDNATiP™ is a program that predicts the time to the most recent common ancestor for two men based on their Y-chromosome STR matching and STR mutation rates. FTDNATiP™ uses specific mutation rates that have been proven to differ across STR markers. This improves the power and precision of estimates of Time to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA). The result is a powerful tool for genealogists.

[Jim Barrett]

The 'Learning Center' is back up.