Mathematics
The Lotka–Volterra equations are simple mathematical models of population dynamics which show how in a closed system, like that of the wolves and moose on Isle Royale, limited prey will cause the predator population to decline rapidly. An extended example can be used where multiple species are competing for the same resources, or single species feed on multiple prey.
Read more about this topic: Carrying Capacity
Famous quotes containing the word mathematics:
“... though mathematics may teach a man how to build a bridge, it is what the Scotch Universities call the humanities, that teach him to be civil and sweet-tempered.”
—Amelia E. Barr (1831–1919)
“It is a monstrous thing to force a child to learn Latin or Greek or mathematics on the ground that they are an indispensable gymnastic for the mental powers. It would be monstrous even if it were true.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“The three main medieval points of view regarding universals are designated by historians as realism, conceptualism, and nominalism. Essentially these same three doctrines reappear in twentieth-century surveys of the philosophy of mathematics under the new names logicism, intuitionism, and formalism.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)