External body characteristics can very fairly systematically across population. For example, men tend to be, on average, taller and heavier than women. Similarly, certain ethnic groups may differ anthropometrically from others. This sort of information is often essential when designing products for sale to different population. It seems to be an accepted norm within human factors that products should be designed so that they fit - in terms of, foe example, strength and anthropometrics 95 per cent of the people for whom they are designed.
Markets for products are usually defined in terms of such general characteristics as those in this cluster. For example, the market for a car may be defined in terms such as men and women in Europe and Asia. Knowing this it is possible to deduce, for example, the critical dimensions foe ensuring that 95 per cent of this population can reach the pedals and at the same this have a good of road. This can be done using anthropometric tables of sort found in Bodyspace.