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The mathematical modelling of population change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Stuart Berry  and
John Stubbs
Stuart Berry
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB, e-mail: [email protected]
John Stubbs
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB, e-mail: [email protected]
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Extract

A common problem in modelling population change, whether of humans or animals, is estimating the values of the various parameters in the mathematical functions used to describe the population trajectory. Typically both the population's rate of growth and ultimate maximum size are unknown and so various numerical approximation methods have to be used (see [1, 2 and 3]). In this article a mathematical method of population projection is presented which avoids these difficulties and takes the baseline case that the only data available for computation are the populations from just three censuses. It is a method indicated, but not developed by Keyfitz [4].

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 96 , Issue 536 , July 2012 , pp. 243 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2012

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References

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