Analytical Theory of Biological Populations / Edition 1

by Alfred J. Lotka, David P. Smith, Hïlïne Rossert

Overview

In the 50 years that have passed since Alfred Latka's death in 1949 his position as the father of mathematical demography has been secure. With his first demographic papers in 1907 and 1911 (the latter coauthored with F. R. Sharpe) he laid the foundations for stable population theory, and over the next decades both largely completed it and found convenient mathematical approximations that gave it practical applications. Since his time, the field has moved in several directions he did not foresee, but in the main it is still his. Despite Latka's stature, however, the reader still needs to hunt through the old journals to locate his principal works. As yet no extensive collections of his papers are in print, and for his part he never as­ sembled his contributions into a single volume in English. He did so in French, in the two part Theorie Analytique des Associations Biologiques (1934, 1939). Drawing on his Elements of Physical Biology (1925) and most of his mathematical papers, Latka offered French readers insights into his biological thought and a concise and mathematically accessible summary of what he called recent contributions in demographic analysis. We would be accurate in also calling it Latka's contributions in demographic analysis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306459276
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	10/31/1998
Series:	The Springer Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis
Edition description:	1998
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

1: Principles.- 1. Untitled [On Evolution in Organic and Inorganic Systems].- 2. Untitled [On the Direction of Time].- 3. Untitled [On Energetics and Uncertainty].- 4. Biological Stoichiometry.- 2: Demographic Analysis with Specific Application to the Human Species.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Relations Involving Mortality and Births.- 3. Relations Involving Fertility.- 4. The Progeny of a Population Element.- 5. Indices and Measures of Natural Increase.- 6. Relations Involving Fertility by Birth Order.- 7. Relations Involving the Survival Functions of Two Individuals.- 8. Extinction of a Line of Descent.- 9. Conclusion.- Author Index.

Editorial Reviews

Widely considered the father of mathematical demography, Lotka (1880- 1949) assembled his papers only in French, so that even now researchers must hunt down the English versions in old journals. Here is a translation of the two of three projected parts he completed of Theorie analytique des associations biologique published in 1934 and 1939 by Hermann. Readers with a background in the subject should have no trouble comprehending it, and may well be astounded at how many current principles and techniques go back to the field's foundation. Would the English title rhymed so sweetly. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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