Leonardo da Vinci, a famous Italian renaissance inventor and painter, was greatly influenced by a man named Vitruvius. Vitruvius was a Roman engineer and architect during the first century B.C. Vitruvius discovered a formula to model what he thought were ideal proportions for a man. Da Vinci used this ideal model when drawing the Vitruvian Man in about the year 1490.
The drawing shows a man standing in a square, which is inside a circle. The man has two pair of outstretched arms and two pair of outstretched legs. These are some of the proportions given for the Vitruvian Man:
• The span of the man’s arms is equal to his height.
• The width of his shoulders is one-fourth of his height. • The distance from the top of his head to the middle of his chest is one-fourth of his height.
• The distance from the middle of his chest to the top of his leg is one-fourth of his height.
• The distance from the top of his leg to the bottom of his knee is one-fourth of his height.
• The distance from the bottom of his knee to the bottom of his foot is one-fourth of his height
Purpose of study
We found Leonardo da Vinci's idea of the Vitruvian man and its given proportions interesting and as such, we want to investigate whether there is a strong relationship between arm span and height. Also, we want to determine if arm span can be used as an ideal representation of height. This might be clinically useful, in the case whereby patients are unable to stand upright for their height to be measured.
Hypothesis
Null hypothesis, H0 : There is no significant positive relationship between arm span and height.
Research hypothesis, H1: There is a significant positive relationship between arm span and height.
Variables
Dependent variable: Height
Dependent variable: Height
Independent: Arm Span
Extraneous: Age, Gender, Diet, Genes, Ethnic group
Conceptualization
Arm span is defined as the significant distance between the tip of the middle finger of one hand to the other with the trunk upright, arms stretched wide apart sideways and parallel to the ground surface.
Height is defined as the vertical distance between the highest and lowest point of a person standing upright barefooted with heels and knees kept together.Operationalization
For height, a standard tailor measuring tape of 1.5m with 0.1cm intervals was used.
For arm span, a standard metal measuring tape of 7.5m with 0.1cm intervals was used.
The mean values of arm span and height measurement were calculated using a SHARP EL-531VH scientific calculator.
Literature Review
Many have found Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man concept interesting and have done studies to ascertain this hypothesis. Some studies have managed to prove a significant positive relationship between arm span and height.
1) Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery 2001, 9(1) 19:23
The use of arm span as a predictor of height: A study of South Indian Women
SP Mohanty, S Suresh Babu and N Sreekumaran Nair
Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, Manipal, Karnataka, India
(http://www.josonline.org/PDF/v9i1p19.pdf)
2) Interpreting Spirometric Data
Impact of Substitution of Arm Span for Standing Height in Adults from North India
Ashutosh N. Aggarwal, MD, DM, Dheeraj Gupta, MD, DM, FCCP and Surinder K. Jindal, MD, FCCP
(http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/115/2/557.full)
Literature Review
Many have found Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man concept interesting and have done studies to ascertain this hypothesis. Some studies have managed to prove a significant positive relationship between arm span and height.
1) Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery 2001, 9(1) 19:23
The use of arm span as a predictor of height: A study of South Indian Women
SP Mohanty, S Suresh Babu and N Sreekumaran Nair
Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, Manipal, Karnataka, India
(http://www.josonline.org/PDF/v9i1p19.pdf)
Objective
This study was undertaken to find out the relationship between various body parameters to identify the measurement that correlates most closely to stature. Sitting height, standing height, arm span and leg lengths of 505 healthy women between the ages of 20 and 29 were measured. The subjects were randomly chosen from colleges of Udupi district in Karnataka State of South India .
Results
The mean arm span was 159.14 cm (SD=7.06), which was on average 2 cm more than standing height.
There was a strong positive correlation of arm span and leg length with standing height. (r=0.816 and 0.842 respectively). This was clearly evident in the scatter plot where the points were closely distributed and clustered around the regression line. (As obtained from the scatter plot)
2) Interpreting Spirometric Data
Impact of Substitution of Arm Span for Standing Height in Adults from North India
Ashutosh N. Aggarwal, MD, DM, Dheeraj Gupta, MD, DM, FCCP and Surinder K. Jindal, MD, FCCP
(http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/115/2/557.full)
Objective
The objective was to evaluate if direct substitution of arm span for height during interpretation of spirometry data leads to any significant statistical or clinical differences in Indian adults, and to compare this method with the use of height estimated indirectly from arm span.
This was mainly to measure lung volumes in patients who can’t stand or with deformities of the axial skeleton that make measurement of height both difficult and inaccurate.
Results
Of the tests in the study, 83.78% and 85.96% were classified and categorized correctly when arm span and estimated height, respectively, were substituted for actual height. There was a positive strong correlation(r=0.779 & 0.808) between arm span and height.
As such, we would like to carry out our own investigation to see if the strong positive relationship between arm span and height is well-supported.
