Are you a Square or a Rectangle?

Hundreds of people joined us on Saturday, November 1st, at the Bay Area Science Festival to investigate the proportions of the human body!

We're hosting the data collected at the Festival on Tuva Labs. Please visit and explore!

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Visitors first predicted if they were a rectangle or square and then they measured their height and arm-span. Participants graphed the two pieces of information against each other and determined if they could find a relationships or patterns in the variety of demographics.

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Here are some activities to try at home:

• Are You a Square? Grades 3-6
• Relating Height to Arm Span  Grades 5-8
• Linear Relationships - How tall are you?  Grade 7
• You and Michael  Grade 8 

Why do we study the proportions of the human body?

Art and Religion

People have been interested in the proportions of the human body for thousands of years.  Here are some examples from different cultures of human investigations of these proportions:

Science

Human proportions are important in a variety of scientific fields.  Examples include Medicine, Sports Biomechanics, Anthropology, Primatology, and Archeology.

Design

A number of areas of design rely on understanding human body proportions.  Examples include clothing design, ergonomic considerations for furniture and other human tools, and architecture.