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I am completing a final assignment for a statistics course, and need a single word to describe age, height, weight and BMI (body mass index).

The best I've been able to come up with so far are physical characteristics which isn't actually a good explanation for those terms, characteristics by itself, and traits, neither of which fit very well in the title:

The Effect of NFL Players’ __________ on Skill.

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    Why do you think 'characteristics' or 'physical characteristics' are wrong?
    – John Feltz
    Dec 18, 2016 at 3:29
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    This study calls them anthropometric characteristics and also concludes that they have little effect on “skill” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3806174
    – Jim
    Dec 18, 2016 at 4:26
  • I think if your study is about those four characteristics, you need to list all four characteristics in the title - anything else isn't apecific enough. BMI is redundant if you mention both height and weight, but I would leave it in, because people interested in your work are going to search for BMI. A single word in the main text would be useful though.
    – Level River St
    Dec 18, 2016 at 13:07
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    'Vital statistics' is what this normally called.
    – Mitch
    Dec 18, 2016 at 17:45
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    "Physical stats" has been used, but perhaps more in the context of games than real-world people (google.com/search?q="physical+stats")
    – Thomas Padron-McCarthy
    Dec 18, 2016 at 18:26

2 Answers 2

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Biometrics is the measurement and statistical analysis of people's physiological and behavioral characteristics.

Biometrics refers to metrics related to human characteristics. Biometrics authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance.

Biometric identifiers are the distinctive, measurable characteristics used to label and describe individuals. Biometric identifiers are often categorized as physiological versus behavioral characteristics. Physiological characteristics are related to the shape of the body. Examples include, but are not limited to fingerprint, palm veins, face recognition, DNA, palm print, hand geometry, iris recognition, retina and odour/scent. Behavioral characteristics are related to the pattern of behavior of a person, including but not limited to typing rhythm, gait, and voice. Some researchers have coined the term behaviometrics to describe the latter class of biometrics.

Source: wikipedia.org

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  • This might be the answer, but you need to find some source that defines it as a collection of measurements (rather than a field of study) and edit it into your response.
    – Spencer
    Dec 18, 2016 at 15:00
  • I looked up Biometrics, and though seems to define all four, it seems a bit too broad, as well as having definite biology connotations which I don't want to include in a statistics assignment which doesn't relate to that field of science. I know I'm being really picky here :)
    – bob bob
    Dec 18, 2016 at 19:09
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    I stand by my answer. :-)
    – MikeJRamsey56
    Dec 18, 2016 at 19:22
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Perhaps you could use physique:

the form or structure of a person's body : bodily makeup

[Merriam-Webster]

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