What's your Allometric Index?

[The Last Conformist]

To the benefit of people who don't know how to use a calculator, I made a program that calculates your allometric index. I made it with 8 lines on Pascal so it is very very simple, but nonetheless should help the severely mathematically-challenged CFC posters.

If you just run that from WinXP, it closes before you can see the result. You should add a "pause" statement or whatever the equivalent is in Pascal.

 

[Plexus]

10.211 (70kg @ 1.9M)

 

[shortguy]

About 12.7, I think

5'9" and 150 lbs, which (if I calculated it correctly) translates to about 1.75 m and 68.18 kg.

 

[carlosMM]

However, the perverse scaling properties of BMI as described in the OP ......

let me add an example: when then-Colonel (IIRC) Schwarzkopf was responsible for Army fitness guidelines, he took a roster of the Washington Redskins and showed it to his boss. "None of these guys meets the required size/weight ratios. You can't say they aren't fit!".

That got the guidelines changed to a % body fat thing.


So, very tall and very muscular people will have proportionally higher BMIs than smaller with the SAME amount of fat. OOPS!


BTW:
My wife has a neat little MBI calculator things, one of the rotating calculator plastic type thingies, that DOES take size into account. Seems, TLC, that your way of calculating is not what Doctors use anymore, at least around here.

 

[Bootstoots]

I have a 12.44 (59 kg and 1.68 m).

 

[The Last Conformist]

BTW:
My wife has a neat little MBI calculator things, one of the rotating calculator plastic type thingies, that DOES take size into account. Seems, TLC, that your way of calculating is not what Doctors use anymore, at least around here.

I'm not sure what you mean by "my way", but the traditional BMI scale is certainly still widely used, among others by the US health authorities.

 

[downtown]

my BMI is 22.7. i cant get it to convert to your scale..i dont have a calculator

5-10, 160 lbs

 

[carlosMM]

I'm not sure what you mean by "my way", but the traditional BMI scale is certainly still widely used, among others by the US health authorities.

well, it seems the way you describe in post #1 is the old way, without taking size into acount 'Your way' means 'the way you described', no more, no less

If people continue to use it - well, you found the flaw, right?

 

[classical_hero]

my BMI is 22.7. i cant get it to convert to your scale..i dont have a calculator

5-10, 160 lbs

I just did your calculation and you are 13 by the metric standard.

 

[Cuivienen]

9.4. Being taller than average helps.

 

[Flak]

12.41 approximately

 

[Birdjaguar]

12.41 approximately

And to be exact, how many decimal places would you take it to?

 

[sanabas]

And to be exact, how many decimal places would you take it to?

If I was being exact, I wouldn't take it to more decimal places, I'd write 18 6538/6859. ~19 is easier though.

well, it seems the way you describe in post #1 is the old way, without taking size into acount 'Your way' means 'the way you described', no more, no less

If people continue to use it - well, you found the flaw, right?

People do continue to use it, even if it's only as a rough approximation of health level/fitness level. a doctor might realise a BMI over 30 isn't a definitive sign of obesity (mine's 36, and while I'm a bit overweight, I'm far from obese), but a teenager who sees a graph of height v weight in a doctor's office with BMIs of 15, 20, 25, 30 plotted on it to indicate healthy weight range, unhealthy weight range and dangerously over- or underweight range won't automatically realise it's just an approximation, and could quite easily take it seriously, with detrimental health effects. If you're trying to determine fitness or health level off just height and weight, you're always going to have problems caused by over-simplification, but coming up with a system that uses the square of dimensions for a 3-D body seems obviously wrong though. Anyone know the history or the justification for BMI in the first place?

 

[The Last Conformist]

According to Wikipedia, BMI was introduced by Adolphe Quetelet in the early 19th century. It doesn't say anything about his motivation for it, but the story I've heard is that it's simply a best fit predictor.

 

[Steph]

15.57.

82kg for 1m74.

As nobody can really check, can I tell I'm overmuscular instead of slightly fat?

It sounds a bit better.

You can also use several other parameters, like the body frame, age or wrist circumference

My ideal weight for my height shoudl:
- 74 kg for the Broca formula
- 68 kg for the Lorentz formula
- 76.5 kg for the Creff formula
- 73 kg for the Monnerot - Dumaine formula

http://www.distrimed.com/divers/page_poids.htm
Page is in French, but you get online calculators for all these formula

Another funny site...
http://geozine.free.fr/Geozine/calculer.htm
Just below the picture, select your height in the list (Taille). You will get your weight (Poids) and all your measurement to follow the "ideal athletic beauty model"
I'm a bit far...

 

[luiz]

If you just run that from WinXP, it closes before you can see the result. You should add a "pause" statement or whatever the equivalent is in Pascal.

Yeah, I forgot that little Pascal problem with WinXP. I use WinME in the computer of my bedroom.

Anyway, this should work properly on Windows XP:

 

[The Last Conformist]

I was so close to making a stab at you being a rich capitalista with a computer in every room till it occured to me I've got two computers per room in this appartment. Which works out at a grand total of two computers, but anyway.

 

[Steph]

I was so close to making a stab at you being a rich capitalista with a computer in every room till it occured to me I've got two computers per room in this appartment. Which works out at a grand total of two computers, but anyway.

Well, I was going to ask what OS he uses for the computer in the lavatories . I have 5 computers in the house, mine, my wife's our server, my work laptop, and a waiting-to-be-converted-to-something-useful old computer. However, they are all in the same room.

 

[luiz]

I was so close to making a stab at you being a rich capitalista with a computer in every room till it occured to me I've got two computers per room in this appartment. Which works out at a grand total of two computers, but anyway.

My home has 4 bedrooms and 4 computers

But before calling me a rich capitalist, take into consideration that my bedroom's computer is a fabulous Pentium 1 of 300 MHz. The computer in my brother's room is not any better (it's even a bit worse).
There are only 2 computers in my home capable of sophisticated stuff (and by sophisticated I mean things as simple as Civ 3).

 

[Perfection]

9.4. Being taller than average helps.

Well, according to TLC it doesn't.