CHAPTER 4
Growth and decay
Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill.
Stephen HawkingTED talk (2008)
SOME of the most fundamental questions asked in the natural and social sciences concern the dynamic sizes of populations and other quantities over time. For example, we may be interested in the size of a plant population being affected by an invasive species, the magnitude of an infection facing a human population, the quantity of a radioactive material in a storage facility, the penetration of a product in the global marketplace, or the evolving characteristics of a dynamic social network. The possibilities are endless. ...
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