Probability of Left Handers (Sinisters) in a World Population

Home , Lakshmi Mittal

Dr. Bhavin S. Patel Assistant Professor, Applied Science & Humanities Department, Sankalchand Patel College of Engineering, Visnagar, Gujarat, India;

Abstract: In the world, only about 10 % of the population is left handed and the rest of them is right handed. It is believed Sinisters (left handers) make upto 5 % to 10 % of the world population and are more likely to be on extreme poles of the intelligence scale. Left handedness is completely genetic. Being left or right handed has no other relation. Left handedness or Right handedness comes genetically from child’s father or mother or both. We seek to find the probability that the new born baby (child) is left handed or right handed in the present research paper.

Keywords: Left Handers (Sinisters), Left handedness, Right handedness, World Population

Introduction: Handedness is a better performance or individual preference for use of a hand, known as the dominant hand, the less preferred hand is called the nondominant hand. There are four types of handedness: Left-handedness, Right-handedness, Mixed-handedness and Ambidexterity. Left-handedness is somewhat more common among men than among women.

Right handedness is most common among people. Right handed people are more skillful with their right hands when performing tasks. Studies suggest that 88-92 % of the world population is right handed.

Left handedness is far less common than right-handedness. Left handed people are more skillful with their left hands when performing tasks. Studies show that approximately 10 % of the world population is left handed.

Mixed-handedness is the change of hand preference between tasks. This is common in about 1 % of the population. Ambidexterity is exceptionally rare case, although it can be studied. A truly ambidextrous person is able to do any task equally well with either hand.

In this research paper, though, we concentrate on common types: Left handedness and Right handedness. Left handedness is less common among people than right handedness. For left handers, International Left Hander’s Day is celebrated on August 13th every year. International Left Hander’s Day was first celebrated on August 13, 1976. It was started by Left Hander’s International.

Calculation of probabilities:

As it is discussed in the abstract of this paper that, Left handedness is completely genetic. It comes from child’s father or mother or both.

Henceforth, if we randomly select father-mother combination, it is a random experiment. We denote right-handedness by R and left-handedness by L. In particular, we denote right handed father-mother combination by 푅푅. Same way others can be denoted by 푅퐿 i.e. right handed father and left handed mother, 퐿푅 i.e. left handed father and right handed mother and 퐿퐿 i.e. left handed father-mother combination.

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 464

The sample space for this random experiment is 푆1 = {푅푅, 푅퐿, 퐿푅, 퐿퐿} having 4 different father-mother combinations i.e. four sample points.

Biologically, a baby born from any father-mother combination is either a boy or a girl who can be right handed or left handed genetically. For this experiment, the sample space is 푆2 = {퐵푅, 퐵퐿, 퐺푅, 퐺퐿}.

If we select randomly any child to check whether he/she is right handed or left handed, this selection is a random experiment again. The sample space for this random experiment is 푆1 × 푆2 = 푅푅퐵푅, 푅푅퐵퐿, 푅푅퐺푅, 푅푅퐺퐿, 푅퐿퐵푅, 푅퐿퐵퐿, 푅퐿퐺푅, 푅퐿퐺퐿 { }. There are 푛 = 16 sample points. 퐿푅퐵푅, 퐿푅퐵퐿, 퐿푅퐺푅, 퐿푅퐺퐿, 퐿퐿퐵푅, 퐿퐿퐵퐿, 퐿퐿퐺푅, 퐿퐿퐺퐿

A baby born from father-mother combination, either boy or girl, is most likely to be left handed if father-mother combination is 퐿퐿 i.e. father and mother both are left handed. The sample points set for this event 퐴 is 퐴 = {퐿퐿퐵퐿, 퐿퐿퐺퐿} . Both these sample points are disjoint i.e. mutually exclusive. Using 1 1 probability theory, the probabilities of these events are calculated as 푃(퐿퐿퐵퐿) = and 푃(퐿퐿퐺퐿) = . 16 16

Therefore, the probability that the newborn baby (child) is a left hander is at least

1 = 0.0625. The probability that the newborn baby is left handed boy or girl is 16

2 1 푃(퐴) = = = 0.125. Eventually, the range of probability of the newborn baby (child) being left handed 16 8 is 0.0625 to 0.125 i.e. 6.25 to 12.5 %. This range is roughly nearer to the range 5 to 10 % which is just believed to be but has not been proved.

On the other hand, a newborn baby (child) is most probably right handed if any one of the parents is right handed. The sample points set for this event 퐵 is

퐵 = {푅푅퐵푅, 푅푅퐵퐿, 푅푅퐺푅, 푅푅퐺퐿, 푅퐿퐵푅, 푅퐿퐵퐿, 푅퐿퐺푅, 푅퐿퐺퐿, 퐿푅퐵푅, 퐿푅퐵퐿, 퐿푅퐺푅, 퐿푅퐺퐿}.

The probability that the newborn baby is right handed boy or girl is

12 푃(퐴) = = 0.75. Moreover, a newborn baby is right handed boy or girl even if his/her parents are both 16 left handed occur very rarely. The sample space of this event 퐶 is

퐶 = {퐿퐿퐵푅, 퐿퐿퐺푅}. The probability that the newborn baby is right handed even if both the parents are left 2 handed is 푃(퐶) = = 0.125. 16

Hence, the probability range that a newborn baby is right handed is 0.75 to 0.875 i.e. 75 to 87.5 %.

The Actual Observation by Sampling:

A. Sample-1

We collected data for the sample of 19 students of Standard-V from H.B.Kapadia School in Unjha. The details are as under:

Standard-V, H.B.Kapadia School, Unjha

Roll No. Boy or Girl (B Lefty or Righty (L Father Lefty or Mother Lefty or or G) or R) Righty (L or R) Righty (L or R)

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 465

1 Boy R R R 2 Boy R R R 3 Boy R R RL 4 Boy R R R 5 Girl R R R 6 Boy L R L 7 Boy R R R 8 Boy R L R 9 Boy R R R 10 Boy R R R 11 Boy R R R 12 Girl R R R 13 Girl R R L 14 Boy R R R 15 Boy R R R 16 Girl L R R 17 Boy R R R 18 Boy R R R 19 Boy R R R  Here RL means both Righty and Lefty.

Above tabular data shows that 2 students out of 19 students are left handed. Of these 2 students, one is 2 boy and girl each. So, the probability that a randomly selected student is left handed is = 0.105 i.e. 19 10.5 % which falls in the range 6.25 to 12.5 %.

B. Sample-2

We collected data for the sample of 31students of Standard-VI from NOOTAN GLOBAL SCHOOL in VISNAGAR. The details are as under:

Standard-VI, NOOTAN GLOBAL SCHOOL, VISNAGAR

Roll No. Boy or Girl (B Lefty or Righty (L Father Lefty or Mother Lefty or or G) or R) Righty (L or R) Righty (L or R) 1 Boy R R R 2 Boy R R R 3 Boy R R R 4 Girl L L R 5 Boy R R R 6 Boy L R R 7 Boy R R R 8 Girl R R R 9 Boy R R R 10 Girl L R R 11 Girl R R R 12 Girl R R R 13 Boy R R R 14 Boy R R R 15 Girl R R R 16 Girl R R R 17 Girl R R R

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 466

18 Girl R R R 19 Girl R R R 20 Boy R R R 21 Boy R R R 22 Boy R R R 23 Girl R R R 24 Boy R R R 25 Boy R R R 26 Girl R R L 27 Girl R R R 28 Boy R R R 29 Boy R R R 30 Girl R R R 31 Girl R R R

Above statistics show that 3 students out of 31 students are left handed from the randomly selected class 3 of the school. So, the probability that a randomly selected student is left handed is = 0.097 i.e. 9. 70 % 31 which falls in the range 6.25 to 12.5 %.

C. Sample-3

This sample is quite different from the above samples. We have collected names of some greatest people of the world over. These people are left handers and they have extra ordinary intelligence power to be successful in their life irrespective of their field or profession. This sample includes the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime minister Narendra Modi, Millenium star Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Barack Obama, Sir Albert Einstein et al. The details of all these greatest people are given below. These people come from the range of left handers 6.25 to 12.5 %.

Henceforth, we can say that the greatest people most probably have left hand as their strong hand with which they write or give extra ordinary ideas to the world by their work.

These are the greatest examples of world dominance by lefties.

1. Mahatma Gandhi 2. Shri Narendra Modi

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 467

3. Mr. Amitabh Bachchan 4. Mr. Ratan N Tata

5. Mother Teresa 6. Sachin Tendulkar

7. Barack Obama 8. Bill Gates

9. Sir Albert Einstein 10. Sir Isaac Newton

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 468

11. Alexander The Great 12. Oprah Winfrey

13. Angelina Jolie 14. Charlie Chaplin

15. Bill Clinton 16. Dhirubhai H Ambani

17. Julia Roberts 18. John F Kennedy

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 469

19. Nicole Kidman 20. Lakshmi Mittal

21. Pablo Piccaso 22. Steve Jobs

23. Tom Cruise 24. Leonardo Da Vinci

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 - 30 January 1948) was an Indian activist who was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. In India, he is called the Father of the Nation. The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi is the first name in the list of the greatest lefties.

Narendra Damodardas Modi is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. He was the Chief Minister from 2001 to 2014. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the greatest example of world dominance by lefties. Some experts think left-handed people have a greater aptitude for language skills, which helps them in their political office.

Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor, producer, television host, and former politician. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s for films such as Zanjeer, Deewar and Sholay and was dubbed India's "angry young man" for his on-screen roles in Bollywood. Referred to as the Shahenshah of Bollywood, Star of the Millennium or Big B. Our very own Big B uses his left hand to make the right decisions.

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 470

Ratan Naval Tata is an Indian industrialist, investor, philanthropist and former chairman of Tata Sons. He is one left handed businessman. A research suggests that while left-handed men tend to earn more than their right-handed colleagues, there is no similar advantage for women.

Mother Teresa, known in the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta was an Albanian- Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is a former Indian international cricketer and a former captain of the Indian national team, regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Although Sachin Tendulkar is a right hand batsman, but this cricketing legend is also appear in the lefties list.

Barack Hussein Obama is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from January 20, 2009, to January 20, 2017. He also features in the list of the greatest lefties.

William Henry Gates III (Bill Gates) is an American business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian and principal founder of Microsoft Corporation. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014.

Sir Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 - 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He is best known to the general public for his mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to theoretical physics and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory.

Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 - 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, author, and physicist (described in his own day as a “natural philosopher”) who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time, and a key figure in the scientific revolution.

Alexander III of Macedon commonly known as Alexander the Great was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon.

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history.

Angelina Jolie is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. She has been cited as Hollywood's highest-paid actress.

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona "the Tramp” and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry.

William Jefferson Clinton (Bill Clinton) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001.

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 471

Dhirajlal "Dhirubhai" Hirachand Ambani was an Indian business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries in Bombay with his cousin. He appeared in The Sunday Times top 50 businessmen in Asia.

Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress and producer. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990), which grossed $464 million worldwide. She has won three Golden Globe Awards (out of eight nominations) and has been nominated for four Academy Awards for her film acting, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Erin Brockovich (2000).

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy commonly referred to by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963.

Nicole Mary Kidman is an Australian and American actress and producer. She is the recipient of multiple awards, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards and the Silver Bear for Best Actress.

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal is an Indian steel magnate, based in the United Kingdom. He is the chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaking company.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. He is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

Steven Paul Jobs was an American entrepreneur and business magnate. He was the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and a co-founder of Apple Inc.

Thomas Cruise (Tom Cruise) is an American actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519), more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance, whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology and architecture and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time.

The author of this research paper is also a left hander.

Conclusion:

The present paper concludes that the majority of the world population fall under the category of right handed people. They range from 75 to 87.5 %. The population of Sinisters (left handers) make upto 6.25 to 12.5 % of the world population. Left handers (Lefties) are said to be more creative and intellectual and thus sometimes more dominant than their counterparts, right handers (Righties). So, if you are a lefty yourself, here is a little something to boost your ego or say confidence. And the above mentioned Indian and international sinisters will make you feel proud to be left-handed.

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 472

References:

1. H.A. Taha, Operations Research-An Introduction. First Edition, New York: Elsevier Publishing,

1968.

2. H.A. Taha, Operations Research-An Introduction. 8th Edition, ISBN 0131889230. Pearson

Education, 2007.

3. Feller W. (1968). Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications, Vol. I, 3rd ed. New York:

John Wiley and Sons.

4. Feller W. (1971). Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications, Vol. II, 2nd ed. New

York: John Wiley and Sons.

5. S. Palaniammal, Probability and Queueing Theory, ISBN-978-81-203-4244-6. PHI Learning, 2012.

6. http://www.indianlefthanderclub.com/famous-lefthanders.php.

JETIR1808214 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 473