What if we use the little fetus bones to replace some of the smaller adult bones, and take those smaller adult bones to replace some bigger adult bones, and so on until we have a big ol' femur?
The word average can technically refer to arithmetic mean, median, mode, or range. That's why you were probably taught them at the same time. That's also why tests like the ACT tend to have a * at the top that says something along the lines of "Unless otherwise stated, the word average indicates arithmetic mean."
Because mean is the most common form of average. But, for example, when referring to salaries, the words median and average are often used interchangeably.
Half the bones in a adult human are in the hands and feet. I don't know if there's enough missing limbs to offset fetus skeletons but I there's a whole lot of bones missing in a double amputee.
Babies have up to 270 bones at birth (instead of 206 in an adult), which makes up for at least one double amputee (hands have 27 bones and feet have 26 each).
I appreciate what you're saying here - people come in all shapes and sizes, with different abilities, limb counts, etc. Every one is a human being deserving respect and dignity.
But OP didn't say "a complete human being" - it said "a complete human skeleton."
If an individual is missing a limb, by birth or by accident, they don't have a complete skeleton. It's a plain fact. Doesn't mean they are any less human.
Yeah kind of - I think "a complete body" is neither necessary or sufficient to make one a "human being."
For example, there are plenty of murderers, rapists, and pedos with "complete bodies," that have entirely lost their humanity in commission of their crimes against humanity. (However, I will always argue that this can never be a justification to exact cruelty upon them, as we necessarily lose our humanity in that process).
And there are so many people with "incomplete" bodies who are amazingly beautiful and strong human beings.
Pregnant women as well. Now their human body contains two skeletons, thus raising the average number of bones in a human body by a considerable amount. I would guess there's probably more pregnant women than there are people missing limbs.
Traditionaly when talking about the skeleton, we refer to the adult skeleton seeing as an adolescent skeleton have more bones that then fuse. I agree that we need to take that into account, but I don't believe the statement would be referring to an adolescent skeleton.