Left Handed Maths?

smiles

I heard a figure that approximately one in every nine people are left handed.....

Well I'm in a course with approximately 25/26 people and there's about 10-12 of them are left handed.... freaky or what?

<< Fio >>

Dont be at yourself

Funny you should say that, but the percentage of people in my class who are left-handed is much higher than 10% as well! It's closer to one in three than one in nine.

planck2

when i was at school,not to long ago mind you,myself included,there were approximately six lefties out of 28.The reason i would suggest for this surge in the number of left handers is because of the decline in the numbers of Christian brothers and nuns involved in primrary and secondary education.

Syth

I hear the used to beat lefties into righties, or at least make them ambidexterous

...because of the decline in the numbers of Christian brothers and nuns involved in primrary and secondary education.

planck2

if you want to put it like that

Gordon

Yeah Syth my Granny was beaten into right handedness but she was a true lefty. She however learned the ways of the right while using the lefted way also. She is a true jedi, passed it onto my mum who is a righty but is the only woman in Britain (so she tells me) that can write with her two feet and her two hands.

Anyway, I don't even notice righty/lefty people anymore

Thanx 4 The Fish

You'd be amazed how much you noticed them if you played tennis or badminton. Playing to somebodies (usually weaker) backhand is taught at camps around the country but then you have to change your whole apporach when playing a lefty.

Another interesting thing is that quite a high percentage (close to 80% if I recall correctly) of twins have one lefty and one righty, check it out if you know any.

BTW Mum was also beaten into being a righty, a trick they used quite alot was to tie the left hand to the child's leg.

thedrowner

i think the figure is one in 10 in america, and one in 7 outside america, or vice versa. i was watching a crime show and they mentioned it, but i dunno how reliable it is.

deimos

Originally posted by Syth
I hear the used to beat lefties into righties, or at least make them ambidexterous

ye happened to me Syth when I was in primary school in 2nd class, I was forced to use my right, but it pays off now, I able to turn my guitar upside down and play it exactly the same:), dunno what use that is but still....... I like doing it, able to write with both hands also

deimos

Originally posted by smiles
I heard a figure that approximately one in every nine people are left handed.....

Well I'm in a course with approximately 25/26 people and there's about 10-12 of them are left handed.... freaky or what?

<< Fio >>

there could be some form of a relation between the courses and handedness, what course you doing?

eg, left handed people are artistic so they do art while right handed are logical so they do maths

planck2

I'm doing theoretical physics in ucd,and am left handed.Einstein was left handed as was Galileo.

deimos

Originally posted by planck2
I'm doing theoretical physics in ucd,and am left handed.Einstein was left handed as was Galileo.

if there was some form of a connection between handedness and dominant cerebral hemisphere I would have thaught the oposite of someone doing theorethical physics....

Thanx 4 The Fish

Originally posted by planck2
I'm doing theoretical physics in ucd,and am left handed.Einstein was left handed as was Galileo.

So was Jack the ripper if police reports are to be believed

Inspector Gadget

Actually, this idea of coercing left-handers to use their right hand/foot instead is very, very old.

Look up a latin dictionary for "sinister" (which has a well-known modern meaning) and you'll find that as well as the modern definition, it also means something pertaining to the left-hand side, or left-handednesss. (At one time, it was believed that left-handers were children of Satan... go figure)

"Dexter", on the other hand, which is the root of a number of limb-related terms - "dextrous" and the like - means "right-handed", or at least "pertaining to the right-hand side".

[edit]Google just spat out a book on the subject, and the summary mentions just this information: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0297645978/026-0557167-0190045[/edit]

FYI,
Gadget

Victor

My niece (9, left handed) went to CTYI and did maths and art...

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
At one time, it was believed that left-handers were children of Satan... go figure

Wasn't Satan originally at God's left hand before he was cast down from heaven?

smiles

Originally posted by deimos
there could be some form of a relation between the courses and handedness, what course you doing?

eg, left handed people are artistic so they do art while right handed are logical so they do maths

Actually that was my point, 'cept I forgot and left it out, I'm doing a primarily maths based degree.... so your theory goes out the window!

<< Fio >>

Robbo

How come it's "about 10-12" people? Are there some who are ambidextrous or just indecisive?

Some mathematicians...

CuLT

Maybe its time to invert the theory .

Sarky

I write with my left hand.

But in all other respects I'm right handed. Odd, that...

DeVore

I'm right handed but I snowboard goofy (thats right foot forward, whereas most people are left foot forward).

DeV.

Man U babe

I'm similar, right handed and right footed but in taekwondo I spar in a left handed fighting stance...

lacuna

i was originally a lefty when i was young and was given out to in school for it. i was the only lefty in the class so the teacher said i had to conform. she was old and stuck in her ways. never mentioned it to my parents and then one day they got quite freaked out when they noticed that i was writing with my right hand.
anyway i'm not arty...much more logically, scientifically and mathematically orientated.
im not so sure that the hand that you write with has much to do with whether you're arty or more into maths.if a study was done i think there would be too many exceptions to make a conclusive argument.

superconor

one of the presidents of america, i think it was roosevelt, could write latin and one hand and greek in the other, simoultaniously. i have tried this with spanich and english, but to no avail.
i am right handed and footed, however, like devore i skateboard goofy, and in bmx go right foot back, which most people go left foot back. and my dad is right handed and footed, however plays golf left handed. odd.. and i can use a mouse left handed. odd again...

yellum

When in College in Elec Eng which has a high percentage of very intelligent people I noticed that the amount of left handed people was above the "average"

From my own personal observations I have noticed higher percentages of left handed people in groups of those classed as above average intelligence.

Victor

I have a problem shooting - right handed, but when closing one eye, I find it much easier to close my right eye than my left.

My niece's dog (collie / labrador cross) can only run clockwise, not anti-clockwise.

LoLth

well, both my parents are right handed.

my sister (eldest) is a leftie.
my brother is a righty ( but only because of nuns and christian brothers smack the crap out of lefties for being evil) when he was doing an aptitude test they found out that he is actually left handed..
myself be a lefty. (nuns and cbs tried the beating stuff but my grandad sorted them out ).

thats three left handed kids from an up to now completely right handed bloodline. Proof that all you people will pay dearly for inventing fountain pens that force us to write funny or risk smearing the ink. b@stards.

Tree

Originally posted by Victor
I have a problem shooting - right handed, but when closing one eye, I find it much easier to close my right eye than my left.

that would be coz of the way everyone is cross wired, the left hand side of the brain is supposed to be more used in rightys and accordingly the left eye is stronger. in lefties generally the right eye is stronger. For some reason the nerves switch sides twhen they leave your head