A growth curve is an empirical model of the evolution of a quantity over time. Growth curves are widely used in biology for quantities such as population size, body height or biomass. Values for the measured property can be plotted on a graph as a function of time; see Figure 1 for an example.
Growth curves are employed in many disciplines besides biology, particularly in statistics, which has an extensive literature on growth curves. In mathematical statistics, growth curves are often modeled as being continuous stochastic processes, e.g. as being sample paths that almost surely solve stochastic differential equations.
Read more about Growth Curve: Bacterial Growth, Cancer Cell Growth, The Growth of Children, Exponential Growth
Famous quotes containing the words growth and/or curve:
“There are enough fagots and waste wood of all kinds in the forests of most of our towns to support many fires, but which at present warm none, and, some think, hinder the growth of the young wood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Nothing ever prepares a couple for having a baby, especially the first one. And even baby number two or three, the surprises and challenges, the cosmic curve balls, keep on coming. We can’t believe how much children change everything—the time we rise and the time we go to bed; the way we fight and the way we get along. Even when, and if, we make love.”
—Susan Lapinski (20th century)