Elizabeth Meister #709 Math 6, per.

Anthropometry Project When Mrs. Schwarz, my math teacher, told me that we were going to be studying bones, I was very excited. She explained that we were going to be doing Anthropometry, the study of bones. Mrs. Schwarzs plan was for my 13 classmates and I to enjoy something very new and to be able to measure our six teachers bones and calculate their heights with different formulas. I learned that math is used in so many different ways in our life, and not just to solve equations.

First, on day one and two, we focused on the radius bone. The radius is the bone from the crease in your elbow to the tip of your wrist. We all measured each others radiuses by using a measuring tape and mine was seven and a half inches long. Finding the mean (the average, 8.3), median (the number in the middle, 8.5), mode (the number that occurs most often, 8.5), and range (the largest number subtracted by the smallest1.5), of everyone in the classs radius. Fifty-seven and a half inches was my height when we measured it. Making a scatter graph was our next task. Pink dots resembled the girls data and blue dots for the boys data. A line that angled right through the dots represented the average in. Placing them in the correct location, the x-axis was the radius measurement, and the y-axis was the height. To estimate height, you would go across to however long your radius was, and then go up until you hit the line and then go left.

Secondly, on day three and four, we focused on the humerus and tibia bones. The humerus is from the dip in your shoulder to the tip of your elbow. My humerus measured ten and a half inches long and my tibia was twelve and a half inches long. From your kneecap to the bone that sticks out at the ankle, this lengthy bone is called the tibia. Both bones were measured with a measuring tape. Some new formulas were introduced to us, and they made a prediction of your height, just by using the length of your radius, humerus, or tibia. The predictions were close to my actual height; however, they were off by a couple of inches, and the radius formula worked best for me. Another students height, (Maxs), was just a few inches off from my height when calculated. Then we had to take our teachers measurements and use those formulas to compare if the formulas were similar to the actual height and surprisingly, the humerus formula was closest to the actual height when calculated.

Overall, math is used in so many different ways in our life, and not just in equations or in the classroom. What I most enjoyed about this project was learning a new and interesting way of studying bones, and the pleasure of doing exactly what modern archeologists do today. What was probably most difficult for me was that I had to switch the formulas from one to another when switching from a female to a male or the opposite. If I was a forensic scientist or archeologist and I could give the new-bees advice, I would say, to make sure that you get the measurements correct, because if you do not, that would change the whole formula.