would a line graph of the height of all people on earth be a traditional "bell curve" where its highest in the

Question

middle?

Answer 1

Not a line graph, that would be a mess, but a histogram, yes.

It would probably work best if you only took people at either some set age or at their maximum height. And male and females have to be measure separately for it to work.

In one of my classes in college we took a survey of all the heights of people in the class and it fit the bell curve pretty well. If you increase the sample size the fit will improve.

Try it yourself, ask 100 people their heights and make a graph.

On second thought, if you do take *all* people, it would not be a bell curve because of the large amount of children that wuld stretch it to the short side. from 0 to about 15 inches there would be essentially 0, it would then jump up to some level and stay relatively constant up to about 5 feet, where a normal bell curve for women and men would start, and since they overlap it might be one peak or it might have two peaks, I am not sure how close men and women are.

Answer 2

Don't worry about a histogram. A line graph is fine. Each person would have a "point" on it. Yes, the middle would be the highest. One could go further and figure the standard deviation. This will show the "range of average" height. It will also give you the"cut-off" height of people that are extremely short and tall.

Like others have pointed out, You must measure at a set age. because children are not compensated for by the elderly.

Answer 3

No but if you did that for people of a particular ethnicity you have more of a chance of the bell curve you are expecting. You would have to repeat the process for each group you are interested in. Lumping them all together would not provide any clear information.

The problem is that the shorter members of a usually tall group might cancel out the tallest members of a usually short group. Also people who come from countries in which they did not get enough nourishment to reach their genetic potential for height would be lumped together in the overall chart with their family members who emigrated young and are now at the height they should be.