eng Science and Education Publishing International Transaction of Electrical and Computer Engineers System 2014-05-14 2 3 88 92 10.12691/iteces-2-3-2 ITECES2014232 article Lidong Wang lwang22@students.tntech.edu 1 Cheryl Ann Alexander 2 Department of Engineering Technology, Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, USA Department of Nursing, University of Phoenix, Tempe, USA The testing and frequency distribution analysis of African American fingerprint patterns (loop, whorl, and arch) was conducted. It was shown that loops are the most common, whorls are the second most common, and arches are the least common with a very small percentage (4.33%). Most loops are ulnar loops while only 4.47% loops are radial loops. Of the total arches, 61.54% arches are plain arches and 38.46% arches are tented arches. A comparative study of gender difference in African American fingerprint patterns was conducted using a non-parametric method based on the U test. The U test results show that there is no significant gender difference in fingerprint patterns between African American males and females at the 0.05 level of significance. http://pubs.sciepub.com/iteces/2/3/2/iteces-2-3-2.pdf fingerprint system information technology fingerprint pattern loop whorl arch flat fingerprint rolled fingerprint slap fingerprint U test