What is meant by the term match or consistency?
We report that two samples are consistent with each other instead of using the term match. Although the words consistent and match may mean the same thing to most individuals, we usually try to avoid the term match because it may misrepresent the samples as being the same. Typing the DNA essentially comes down to doing a comparison between what is observed in the unknown specimen to what is observed in the known specimen. When we report DNA results we are reporting on only a small portion of the DNA molecule. Without typing the entire DNA molecule from end to end we cannot say with 100% certainty that the samples match, only that they are consistent with each other at the area of the DNA molecule that was compared.
