Slashdot Mirror


Boys with Longer Ring Fingers are Better at Math

slashthedot writes "While it is well known that boys have longer ring fingers as compared to index fingers, now some researchers say that the longer the ring finger ratio to index finger, the better boys are at math. In girls, the shorter the ring finger to index finger ratio, the better is their verbal skills. 'The link, according to the researchers, is that testosterone levels in the womb influence both finger length and brain development.'"

4 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Flaky? by flynt · · Score: 4, Informative

    Because the 95% confidence level means you are allowing a 5% chance of finding a correlation where one doesn't actually exist. This is called a Type I error in hypothesis testing. If you do 20 tests, each with a 5% chance of a type I error, the expected number of times that you incorrectly reject the null hypothesis is 1.

  2. Re:Flaky? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    That would have to do with the 95% confidence interval (1 out of 20). If a 99% confidence interval was used, you would expect 1 out of 100 correlations revealed where there is none. Of course, this should be done over many runs rather than just one.

  3. Re:Obligatory innuendo by UncleTogie · · Score: 2, Informative

    The second finger is not the index finger (unless it is indicating displeasure like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin) and the fourth is not the ring finger but the pinkie.
    Depends if you're counting it by metacarpal bones. The numbering starts at 1, on the thumb, and the 5th is the pinky.... or that's what they teach in medical schools, anyway...
    --
    Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
  4. Re:2 girls for every boy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Actually that song was by Jan & Dean, not the Beach Boys.
    The song is "Surf City".