Quetelet's Index

Quetelet's Index, more commonly known as the body mass index (BMI), is a measure of weight relative to height. Originally developed by 19th-century mathematician Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, it is a standard measurement that is widely used by health professionals and researchers as an index of body fat. The formula used to calculate this index is weight (in kilograms) divided by height (in meters squared). Height in meters can be calculated by dividing height in centimeters by 100. For example, a person who weighs 71 kilograms and is 165 centimeters tall has a BMI of 26 [(71 kg)/(1.65 m)2 = 26]. Alternatively, BMI can be calculated by dividing weight (in pounds) by height (in inches squared) multiplied by a conversion factor of 703. For example, ...