Diabetes and obesity are serious health concerns in the United States and much of the developed world. Measuring
the amount of body fat a person carries is one way to monitor
weight control progress, but measuring it accurately involves
either expensive X-ray equipment or a pool in which to dunk
the subject. Instead body mass index (BMI) is often used as a
proxy for body fat because it is easy to measure: BMI = mass
(kg)/(height (m))2
= 703 mass(lb)/(height(in))2
. In a study of
250 men at Bingham Young University, both BMI and body
fat were measured. Researchers found the following summary
statistics: