The Math of Forensic Science

Candidate number: 001218-0055

May 2014 Diploma Session

Introduction:

Since I was a child, I was always intrigued by the field of forensic science. Watching CSI: Miami

and Law & Order: SVU, I was exposed to the wonders of fingerprint identification, blood spatter

analysis, and even bullet trajectory. However, back then, it didn’t occur to me the complexity and

the relationship that this field had to math. It wasn’t until I began learning the fundamentals of

math and the application of mathematics in the real world that I discovered the role math played

in this specific field. This exploration will explore the use of mathematics, more specifically

trigonometry and calculus in the field of forensic science to give me an in depth understanding of

its role in crime scene investigations.

Being in my second semester of senior year, I am still uncertain to a certain extent of what major

I want to pursue for an undergraduate degree and what career I want to achieve. Having always

loved math as its application ceases to amaze me, investigating how it is used in forensic science

will help me determine whether or not I want to pursue a degree in forensic science or in

criminology. Understanding how what I have learned in math throughout the years can be

applied to situations such as forensic science will either make me realize that I want to pursue

something math related (forensic science) or not (criminology).

Basics of Blood Spatter Analysis:

When forensic scientists are presented

with a crime scene that involved

blood whether it be a murder, rape or

simply a burglary, they must correctly

identify the pattern of the blood

spatter to accurately determine the

source and try and figure out what

happened and if the eyewitness

testimonies match up with the

evidence found. Basically, they need

to figure out things like who the

perpetrator was, was the person defending themselves, or even when/where the attack was

started. All of this of course, depends on the nature of that specific case however, generally, they

are looking to determine what happened. They may also use this to determine the height of the

victim or the type of weapon used.

Trigonometry to Determine Blood Spatter:

Simple trigonometry functions can be used to calculate the impact angle that causes the blood

droplet. The impact angle is used to refer to the angle formed when the horizontal axis by an

object hitting a plane surface. This can be done by measuring the length and width of the

bloodstain and using the simple sine rule. Then, the inverse of the sine rule is found using a
calculator to determine the angle. The length of the bloodstain is used for the hypotenuse and the

width is the opposite side of the angle.

sine= opposite/hypotenuse

The use of mathematics that is used is simply astonishing, as people often wonder when they will

ever use math in their daily life or when math is ever useful but in reality, everything has some

sort of mathematics fundamental!

A new formula has been created to determine the whether or not a victim took a blow standing

up or not. This formula helps forensics analysts quickly eliminate possibilities to get closer to the

truth in a shorter amount of time. Not only does math help find the source, but it also saves

investigators time. This formula takes into account the height of two drops and not only one as

the previous technique did. It tells whether or not the blood spatters came from the same source.

While analysts may attempt to use logical reasoning to determine this, it is necessary to have

valid evidence, hence the use of mathematics. This tells the person’s position whereas the

previous example told the where the direction and area the blood came from.
Z0 refers to the height of the blood when it left the body

T1 refers to tangent of the angle of first drop hitting the ground

T2 refers to tangent of the angle of second drop hitting the ground

r2 refers to horizontal distance of the first drop

r1 refers to horizontal distance of the second drop

The long axis of the blood spatter can be used to determine the area and point of convergence.

The point of converge is the area where two blood spatters meet. A line is drawn from the long

axis of each blood spatter and the point where they all meet is known as the area of convergence,

which is the place where the blood originated from. This is done using something known as the

“stringing” method. This allows the analysts to determine where the victim was. There are

programs such as HemoSpat and BackTrack that does the math automatically and calculates the

angle of impact and all associated math such as the area of origin which uses more complicated
mathematical processes.. An example showing how the area of convergence is found is shown

below.

Logarithms and determining when a person deceased:

Using Newton’s Principle of Cooling, an equation using logarithms helps forensic scientists in

determining when a person was killed or died.

The formula is as follows:

t refers to the time

T is the temperature measured in oF

Rt is the constant room temperature

Imaginary Scenerio

Police officers were called to a parking lot where they found a dead body. Upon arrival, the

coroner checked the temperature of dead person. This was around 10:30 pm. The temperature

was found to be 76.5o F. Let’s assume that the room temperature was 60.0o F. The time of death is

calculated as follows:

t ≈ 8.5 hours = 8 hours 30 minutes

10:30 pm-8 hours 30 mins = 2:00 pm

Approximate time of death: 2:00 p.m

This information is then given to police officers or detectives to determine things like if there

was something strange about the victims whereabouts at that time of day, or even possibly to rule

of suspects who have an alibi for that time.

Conclusion

After studying and acknowledging how much math composes forensic science, to me, it seems as

if without math this field would not only be difficult, but completely non-existent. It makes me

wonder how our ancestors solved crimes without the fundamentals of this subject. Also, to me,

forensic science’s backbone is math. Math is what makes us the subject. As seen with the blood

spatter, without taking into account where the blood came from or where the person who is the

victim was positioned, how would we be able to determine or even rule out possible suspects?

Seems impossible to me. Forensic science is a part of law enforcement which is a crucial part of

society no matter what country, region, or even continent. However, specifically within the

United States, as crime rates are rising, the demand for the use of forensic science is increasing

and that means that more work needs to be done in a shorter period of time. Also, since crimes

are a very sensitive topic, it is important for scientists to remain as accurate and close as possible

to the truth. Using math, forensic scientists are able to more precisely reconstruct a crime scene

and determine certain aspects that are vital to solving the crime in a shorter period of time. The
application of mathematics in this field is fascinating but most importantly, it is an extreme

necessity.

Works cited

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Medda, Suman. "How to Calculate the Angle of Impact | eHow." eHow, n.d. Web. 4 Jan 2014.
<http://www.ehow.com/how_8638726_calculate-angle-impact.html>.

Roberts, Donna. "Logarithmic Application to Forensics." Regentsprep.org, n.d. Web. 4 Jan 2014.
<http://www.regentsprep.org/regents/math/algtrig/ATE9/logsResource.htm>.

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n.d. Web. 4 Jan 2014. <http://new-to-teaching.blogspot.com/2013/05/angle-of-impact.html>.

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Unknown. "Essential Mathematics and Statistics for Forensic Science." Google Books, n.d. Web.
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