Can the relative length of your index and fourth fingers really reveal what you're good at? That's what STOMPer Geomancer wonders after reading a newspaper article that made the claim.

In the article, the writer claims that people with longer ring fingers are better at Mathematics while those with longer index fingers are more artsy.

A report the sender found on the internet also states that finger length could reflect which part of the brain is more developed, and all this is determined by the levels of testosterone and oestrogen (male and female sex hormones respectively) that one is exposed to as a baby.

In an email, Geomancer says:

"A local Chinese daily published a report which claims that 'people whose ring finger is longer than the index finger are more proficient in Math and those whose index finger is longer are proficient in the liberal arts'.

"According to writer Hua Jing Jing, a Taiwan TV station carried out a survey of those who are proficient in Math, and found that 23 out of 29 have ring fingers longer than the index fingers. The writer also claims that in NUS High School of Math and Science, 17 out of 20 students have ring fingers longer than their index fingers.

"I took this picture of a Sec 4 student and his ring finger is longer than his index finger.

"He told me that he has been representing the school in the Math Olympiad from Primary 3 to Sec 4. Invariably the Math teacher has chosen him for Math competitions as he is the best in the class.

"I saw another online report by psychologist Mark Brosnan of the University of Bath which found that students with longer ring fingers than index fingers scored better in math tests than in literacy and or verbal tests.

"Students with longer index fingers, on the other hand, fared better in language and literacy than math.

"The more testosterone a baby is exposed to, the longer his ring finger will be. The greater is his exposure to oestrogen, the longer his index finger is.

"The length of the finger actually indicates which part of the brain is more developed.

"Since testosterone promotes the development of the brain that is responsible for math and spatial skills, a longer ring finger indicates better numerical abilities.

"Conversely, exposure to oestrogen contributes to the growth of the part of the brain linked to literacy skills, so a longer index finger means more developed reading, writing and verbal proficiency."