Max Robinson

Do children inherit their fingerprint patterns from their parents?

Fingerprinting books from library Fingerprinting kit Computer spreadsheet Computer presentation

Step #1: Gather data by looking at people’s fingerprints, and identifying what type their fingerprints are. Step #2: Create an Excel spreadsheet that compares the types of fingerprints of the children to the types of fingerprints of the parents. Step #3: Input data into the Excel spreadsheet. Step #4: Analyze data to see if data agrees with hypothesis.

LoopWhorlArch These are the main types of fingerprints. (There are some more subcategories, which are more specific, but for simplicity I sorted them into the three here.)

Family #1Family #2 Family #3Family #4

In the above table, the data from the children is compared to the data from each parent and the average of the parent’s fingerprints to make sure they are not just random.

White arrows indicate the Parent that is the most like the Child. Less variance means that the child is more similar to that parent.

In the above table, the data from the children is compared to the data from each parent and the average of the parent’s fingerprints to make sure they are not just random.

White arrows indicate the Parent that is the most like the Child. Less variance means that the child is more similar to that parent.

In the above table, the data from the children is compared to the data from each parent and the average of the parent’s fingerprints to make sure they are not just random. Note: this is the only case in this study in which a child’s fingerprints are closer to the average of the parents than to the either of the parents themselves.

White arrows indicate the Parent that is the most like the Child. Less variance means that the child is more similar to that parent.

In the above table, the data from the children is compared to the data from each parent and the average of the parent’s fingerprints to make sure they are not just random.

White arrows indicate the Parent that is the most like the Child. Less variance means that the child is more similar to that parent.

Out of the 12 children studied: 8 of them had print patterns more similar to one parent than to either the other parent or the parent average. 2 of them had variances that were exactly the same from each parent and the parent average. 1 child had the same variance from the mom to the average of the parents. Only 1 child was closer to the average of the parents, which was originally how I expected heredity to exhibit itself in the data.

It was expected that if fingerprints were hereditary, a child’s fingerprints would be close to the average of the parents. However, after analyzing the data, a child’s fingerprints seem to be much more similar to one parent or another, but almost never more similar to the average. After looking at the data, it appears fingerprints work on the same principle as many other things that we already know are hereditary such as hair and eye color.

In conclusion, the hypothesis appears to be correct in stating that a child’s fingerprints are hereditary. The majority (67%) of children’s fingerprint patterns showed high correlation to one parent. However, there was lower correlation between a child’s fingerprints patterns to those of the average of the parents’.