(Also see, (Bio molecules, cells and genetics, unit handbook: 61BL0020), Polygenic traits: fingerprint ridge count Page: 20-22).
Materials and Procedure
(See, (Bio molecules, cells and genetics, unit handbook: 61BL0020), Polygenic traits: fingerprint ridge count Page: 22-23).
Results
Table of class results
No. Of students Loops Whorls Arches Total Ridge count Gender
Radial Ulnar (TRC) (M/F)
1 1 6 6 0 185 M
2 3 3 3 0 138 F
3 4 0 0 6 18 M
4 0 0 0 0 84 M
5 5 2 2 0 134 M
6 9 1 1 0 133 F
7 4 2 2 4 48 M
8 5 0 0 0 114 M
9 2 0 0 0 142 M
Total 33 33 14 10 996
% Of totals 366.7 366.7 155.6 111.1
Mean TRC of F 135.5
Mean TRC of M 103.57
Calculation for mean TRC of Male and Female
= Sum of all the male/females TRC, divided by the number of males/females
Average male TRC = Sum of all male TRC / number of males
= 725 / 7
= 103.57
Histogram of class fingerprint results
Discussion
The average TRC of the class is: 110.67, this shows that the sample was too small to carry out a fair/equal experiment. The average TRC of males is: 103.57, this shows that the males TRC obtained are lower than that of 146. This might have been due to the fact that more males had more arches than loop or whorls, or because of the fact that their averages was calculated by the large sample of males, i.e. 7. The average TRC of females is: 135.5, this shows the sample of female TRC obtained was too small and their average was calculated by a small number, i.e. 2
The sex data obtained from the class is more specific giving the total of 7 males and 2 females. The sample of females to males was very small, therefore the results were not fair due to the sample size of females.
The histogram obtained from the results of the class shows that the majority of the TRC are 130 or above, which might make one think that these results were obtained from only males because of the higher value of ridge count, again the problem here is that the female sample was too small to work with.
For future investigations this experiment should be carried out with an equal number of males to females; to gain a more accurate result, therefore the results can then be discussed with more detail.
Conclusion
The results show that the class population altogether has 90 fingers; 33 of them are radials, and 33 ulnars, 14 are whorls and 10 of the are arches. These statistic’s show that loops and whorls are more common both in male and female, and arches are very rare. The results also show that the mean for the TRC in females is lower than the mean of the male TRC.
References
- Bio molecules, cells and genetics, unit handbook: 61BL0020, Polygenic
traits: fingerprint ridge count, 20-23.
2. Penrose, L. S., Dematoglyphics. Scientific American, 221 (6): 72-83, 1969.