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:
“Humour is the describing the ludicrous as it is in itself; wit is the exposing it, by comparing or contrasting it with something else. Humour is, as it were, the growth of nature and accident; wit is the product of art and fancy.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“In philosophical inquiry, the human spirit, imitating the movement of the stars, must follow a curve which brings it back to its point of departure. To conclude is to close a circle.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)