Download FOOT TO HEIGHT RATIO

FOOT TO HEIGHT RATIO
The bones of the feet can tell a lot about a person. What do feet reveal
about a person’s height? Forensic anthropologists team up with law
enforcers to help solve crimes. Forensic anthropology is the use of physical
anthropology (the structure of bodies and how they have evolved) and
human osteology (the study of bones) to solve crimes.
Forensic anthropologists have found many relationships between lengths
of various parts of the body in relation to one another. One such
relationship is the length of one’s foot and how tall you are. Scientists have
found that on average, the length of your foot is equivalent to
approximately 15% of your height. Another way of looking at this is that
your height is approximately 6.6 times the length of your foot.
INVESTIGATION
How reliable do you think this relationship is? Will all people’s height be exactly 6.6 times the length of their foot?
Will it be the same for children as it is for adults?
Are there any other questions that come to mind?
Measure and record the heights and foot lengths of a number of adults. The more samples you have, the more
reliable your conclusions will be. Enter the relevant data in the table below. Use your calculator where necessary
to find values to enter into the various columns.
Subject
Height
(H)
Foot Length
(F)
H ÷F
Difference
(H ÷F) – 6.6
ANALYSE
How many of your subjects’ heights were exactly 6.6 times the length of their foot? ___________________
How many of your subjects’ heights were very close to 6.6 times the length of their foot? ______________
How many of your subjects’ heights were more than 6.6 times the length of their foot? ________________
How many of your subjects’ heights were less than 6.6 times the length of their foot? _________________
What was the average difference between your subjects’ ratio and the general population’s ratio? (Use the last
column of your table to help you find this value. You can ignore the + or – signs)
_______________
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
Complete the following table using measurements of other members of the class.
Height
Foot Length
Subject
(H)
(F)
H ÷F
Difference
(H ÷F) – 6.6
ANALYSE
How many of your subjects’ heights were exactly 6.6 times the length of their foot? ___________________
How many of your subjects’ heights were very close to 6.6 times the length of their foot? ______________
How many of your subjects’ heights were more than 6.6 times the length of their foot? ________________
How many of your subjects’ heights were less than 6.6 times the length of their foot? _________________
What was the average difference between your subjects’ ratio and the general population’s ratio? (Use the last
column of your table to help you find this value. You can ignore the + or – signs)
_______________
REFELCTION
How might forensic investigators use the relationship between foot length and a person’s height in their
investigations?
Do you think the length of a person’s foot is a reliable indicator of their height? Discuss this in detail in relation to
what you discovered in the data you collected.