Meiosis involves two rounds of cell division, known as meiosis I and meiosis II.

• In meiosis I, homologous chromosomes are separated into two daughter cells, reducing the chromosome number by half (reductional division).
• In meiosis II, the sister chromatids are separated, similar to mitosis, resulting in four haploid daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes as the original diploid cell (equational division)

Thus, a single cell divides twice during meiosis to produce four haploid gametes.