Two orthopedic surgeons in Hangzhou, China, pulled X-rays of 132 bones from three adult patients and asked an unusual question. Do the numbers describing human bones behave like the numbers describing rivers, stock prices, and international trade?
The answer turned out to be complicated, and the researchers are careful to say it is not a medical finding. Raw bone lengths and perimeters clearly did not match the mathematical pattern they were tested against. Projected areas and mathematically transformed values came closer. The study was published in the International Journal of General Medicine by Yunlong Zhi and Cheng Ji of the Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Westlake University.
