Hexadactyly

[Miss Chicken]

I am currently reading Alex's Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos. In the section of the book I am now reading Bellos is talking about counting in base 12 and he briefly mentions that about one in every 500 people is born with at least an extra finger or toe.

I can't think of a single person who I know who was born with an extra toe or finger. i certainly know many times more than 500 people.

If the rate is one in 500 than plenty of people here should know someone, or else be within that 500 themselves.

Do you know anyone?

 

[scotpens]

. . . I can't think of a single person who I know who was born with an extra toe or finger. i certainly know many times more than 500 people.

You’re well enough acquainted with THOUSANDS of people to know whether they have an extra finger or toe? I find that rather astonishing, to say the least.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I think I would notice if someone had an extra finger. It isn't as if fingers are covered.

And growing up I would have noticed if a child had an extra toe especially as most children I knew as a child wore thongs (flip-flops) all summer long.

This is assuming that the extra toe or finger hasn't been amputated.

 

[Ruaidhri]

Antonio Alfonseca.


6 fingers on each hand, and 6 toes on each foot.

 

[RJDiogenes]

As far as I can remember, I've only known one person with an extra digit (and it was deformed, growing out of the side of his little finger). This was back in the 60s. I've known at least two people who were born with fewer than the correct number.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Maybe doctors commonly remove extra digits on a baby soon after birth? I don't know anyone with extra digits either, but I don't personally know even close to 500 people, and I don't usually look at people I casually meet that closely to notice something like that.

 

[captcalhoun]

i knew a guy at secondary school born with an extra thumb growing out of one of his and it was removed when he was a small child.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I am currently reading Alex's Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos. In the section of the book I am now reading Bellos is talking about counting in base 12 and he briefly mentions that about one in every 500 people is born with at least an extra finger or toe.

I can't think of a single person who I know who was born with an extra toe or finger. i certainly know many times more than 500 people.

If the rate is one in 500 than plenty of people here should know someone, or else be within that 500 themselves.

Do you know anyone?

Just because it has an incidence of 1 in 500 doesn't mean you're guaranteed to encounter it if you know 500 or even a few thousand people. It's more prevalent in certain populations and regions than others (it's far more common amongst blacks than whites, for example).

Plus, the vast majority of people who were born with it have the soft boneless extra finger or toe variety, which they usually have removed as a baby. Doctors tie a suture on it and it eventually falls off on its own, and the hand or foot heals quickly and looks completely normal.

Then there's the fact that a lot of those who do have it into adulthood (possibly because the extra digit has bones in it that they decided to keep or was too difficult to remove safely) might just have extra toes which you wouldn't even know about unless they told you or showed you.

So the actual number of people who would have visible extra digits into adulthood in a predominantly white First World nation with good health care is far far less than 1 in 500.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Yes, I have since read that it is more common among blacks than it is among whites, and I must admit when I read 'extra digit' I did think of a something that had a bone in it rather than was just extra flesh.

 

[JarodRussell]

I can't think of a single person who I know who was born with an extra toe or finger. i certainly know many times more than 500 people.

If the rate is one in 500 than plenty of people here should know someone, or else be within that 500 themselves.

I think you have a misconception of statistics. Just because a study says "20% of the population has cancer", you can't just randomly select 10 people and if nobody of them has cancer (or 4 of them, or all of them have cancer), question the study. Or if the chances of winning the lottery are 1:18 Million, that doesn't mean that if you buy 18 million tickets you will have exactly 1 Jackpot winning ticket. That's not how it works.

 

[Balrog]

Went to school with a guy with 6 toes on one foot. We called him "6-Toe Joe".

 

[RoJoHen]

Went to school with a guy with 6 toes on one foot. We called him "6-Toe Joe".

Aw. I have a friend that has really tiny hands. I call him "Small Hands Joe."

 

[chardman]

I know a guy called Joe. We call him "Joe".

 

[RoJoHen]

I know a guy called Joe. We call him "Joe".

Does he ever feel sad knowing that there's nothing that makes him special?

 

[Miss Chicken]

I can't think of a single person who I know who was born with an extra toe or finger. i certainly know many times more than 500 people.

If the rate is one in 500 than plenty of people here should know someone, or else be within that 500 themselves.

I think you have a misconception of statistics. Just because a study says "20% of the population has cancer", you can't just randomly select 10 people and if nobody of them has cancer (or 4 of them, or all of them have cancer), question the study. Or if the chances of winning the lottery are 1:18 Million, that doesn't mean that if you buy 18 million tickets you will have exactly 1 Jackpot winning ticket. That's not how it works.

I understand statistics well enough. I didn't say I should personally know someone with an extra digit, I just said that I didn't, but added that plenty of people at Trekbbs should know someone (given that there are thousands of members on Trekbbs each of whom should know 100s of people) My exact wording was

If the rate is one in 500 than plenty of people here should know someone, or else be within that 500 themselves. Do you know someone?

In fact when, after startting this thread, I asked my best friend if she know someone she was instantly able to come up with a person - the stepdaughter of her sister who had the extra digits removed as a child.

 

[Owain Taggart]

This is an interesting bit of synchronicity. I'm often impressed that on a board such as this one where we have such a wide variation of people, that someone will always have an answer or comment.

In my case, I have a cousin who recently had a kid who had six toes on each foot. I say "had", because the kid is a year and a half old now and recently had her operation. Unfortunately for her, she's just starting the crawling phase now, but because of the casts on each foot, she's not allowed to.

 

[scotpens]

Went to school with a guy with 6 toes on one foot. We called him "6-Toe Joe".

Aw. I have a friend that has really tiny hands. I call him "Small Hands Joe."

I went to school with a guy who could lick his own penis. We used to call him . . . Naah, you don’t want to know.

 

[Balrog]

I knew I guy named Ed who broke his arm doing a push-up. We called him Physical Ed.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Can the extra digits be of use, depending on where they're positioned? I would think that with proper technique, that could be a boon for typing or piano playing, if the right kind of duplication happens.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Can the extra digits be of use, depending on where they're positioned? I would think that with proper technique, that could be a boon for typing or piano playing, if the right kind of duplication happens.

It's pretty rare for the extra fingers to be fully functional, but I suppose it could come in handy with extra training, like the genetically engineered pianist with twelve fingers in Gattaca. According to Wiki, there was a jazz pianist who was born with six fingers on each hand, but the extra fingers were removed when he was a baby, so it had no influence on his playing.

There's a pitcher for the Phillies (Antonio Alfonseca) who has six fingers on each hand (and six toes on each foot), but it doesn't effect his pitching in any positive or negative way since the extra digit doesn't come into contact with the ball.