title: [Analytical description and comparison of profiles and sections of the skull by polynomial equations. Illustration of the procedure].
abstract: Skull profiles and related sections may be worked in order to obtain the equation of the curve for best fitting. Polynomials of 6-7 nth degree give very high values of coefficient of determination. The technique is fully automatized and requires a TV-camera interfaced with a computer with specific hardware devices and software packages. Main routine gives coefficients of the equation, their standard deviation, standard errors, variance and covariance matrix. Accessory routines provide standardization of the position and apparent size of the image (skull or a photograph in a appropriate view) to work. General data on the fit of triplets of equations (total, frontal and facial of the anterior profile) are reported for Proconsul africanus, Australopithecus africanus (STS5, Plesianthropus transvaalensis), Australopithecus africanus (Taung I), Australopithecus Boisei (OH5, Zinjanthropus, rec. Tobias), Homo erectus (Pithecanthropus, rec. Weidenreich), Rhodesia man (Broken Hill I, E686), Homo S. neanderthalensis (Circeo I), Homo S. Sapiens (Grimaldi s.c. negroid, Grotta dei fanciulli VI, Predmost I, modern), Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes, Macaca rhesus.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000379:methods*; D003201:Computers; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics
vernacular_title: Descrizione analitica e comparazione di profili e sezioni del cranio a mezzo di equazioni polinomiali. Illustrazione della procedura.