A karyotype is a preparation of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, sorted by length, centromere location and other features and for a test that detects this complement or counts the number of chromosomes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is prepared from photographs of chromosomes, in order to determine the chromosome complement of an individual, including the number of chromosomes and any abnormalities.