Todd is the most typical of American men. His proportions are based on averages from CDC anthropometric data. As a U.S. male age 30 to 39, his body mass index (BMI) is 29; just one shy of the medical definition of obese. At five-feet-nine-inches tall, his waist is 39 inches.

Fashion trends come and go as fast as you can change your lipstick shade, but could hemlines and the amount of shoes lying around in a woman's closet predict the economic future?

It is only when we begin to explore the realm of statistics that "average" becomes both very interesting and very powerful.