What's it for?

[The Fishman]

What is the purpose of the fourth finger?

The thumb is opposable, useful for gripping things
The index finger is very dexterous, making it useful for pointing and holding small objects
The middle finger is the longest finger, and is also good for precision grips
The little finger can move side to side a lot, and can function almost as a second thumb.

But what is the purpose of the fourth? It is linked to other fingers in some way, making it difficult to move on its own, so its pretty useless for anything precise. Maybe it just fills in the gap between the fingers when you want to hold something large?

 

[Cutlass]

Nature preserves that which is able to survive, not what makes sense. mammals have descended from an ancestor with 5 digits on each limb. Except for hoofed animals, it tends to breed true because it does not cause a problem for survival.

 

[warpus]

Yeah, it's not like the human body was designed by anyone..

but if you really wanna know, you can use that finger in some gang-signs.

 

[Perfection]

Maybe it is just to fill in space! I mean after all, if you didn't have a fourth finger, you little finger would be where your fourth finger is!

Also, it does help in grippin'!

 

[Mise]

To put rings on!

Also it's a gripper. 5 fingers are just the right number of fingers. Any more and you'd have to high a risk of disease/chopping one off/etc, any less and you'd have a hard time gripping.

 

[peter grimes]

...so its pretty useless for anything precise.

Tell that to a violinist, pianist, guitarist, flutist.... well, you get the idea.

 

[Perfection]

Also it's a gripper. 5 fingers are just the right number of fingers. Any more and you'd have to high a risk of disease/chopping one off/etc, any less and you'd have a hard time gripping.

How is it difficult to grip with 4 fingers?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

It's also pretty useful for typing messages on discussion boards.

 

[The Fishman]

It's also pretty useful for typing messages on discussion boards.

Only if you know how to touchtype!

 

[SG-17]

Well I guess it is different for each person, because my 4th and 5th fingers are not connected. I can move both completely independent of each other.

 

[Metal Alloy Man]

Tell that to a violinist, pianist, guitarist, flutist.... well, you get the idea.

Don't forget Bassist's we use it more than guitarists.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

It's also pretty useful for typing messages on discussion boards.

Only if you know how to touchtype!

Fortunately, I do know how.

 

[Loki130]

If you hold something in your hand, your thumb pushes against your three main fingers while the pinky pushes it up. It's also useful for more complex tasks, (half the notes on a flute require a pinky, not that this is an evolutionary purpose) And in evolution things don't disappear the moment they drop out of use, especially when they don't draw on resources that much. Whales still have vestigal back legs bones that don't do much.

 

[Mise]

How is it difficult to grip with 4 fingers?

It's more difficult to grip with 4 fingers than to grow a 5th, I'd imagine.

 

[Mirc]

Don't forget Bassist's we use it more than guitarists.

We shall have a duel to the death to settle that.

 

[bob bobato]

How is it difficult to grip with 4 fingers?

It isn't hard. My left hand has always been deformed (index finger is a stump, middle finger is missing a joint, and the last two fingers can barely bend, they just lean in a little when I try), and I've never had a problem with gripping.

 

[Simple Simon]

Ask someone who lost his forth finger!

I know a carpenter (how cliché!) who lost the two distal phalanges. he can work all right, but turning screw drivers is decidedly more diffcult for him. I never realized that before, until i saw him screw a few screws in: I use (unless it is hard going) the thumb, index, middle and forth finger to twirl the driver quickly. Only the fifth finger does not take part.

 

[GoodGame]

More fingers is more grip strength, no? I guess it survives so we can operate firearms and such.

 

[The Fishman]

I recently found out from one of those New Scientist 'Why Don't Pengiuns eat wasps' type books that the reason that the fourth finger is linked to the others is because it shares an extensor muscle with the middle finger. It is very hard to raise the middle finger all the way without moving the fourth finger. I just tried myself and it was quite painful!

 

[Simple Simon]

I recently found out from one of those New Scientist 'Why Don't Pengiuns eat wasps' type books that the reason that the fourth finger is linked to the others is because it shares an extensor muscle with the middle finger. It is very hard to raise the middle finger all the way without moving the fourth finger. I just tried myself and it was quite painful!

Yeah, good old plantar aponeurosis - it is still not fully split in us humans. So much for an intelligent desinger.....