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The mathematics of population growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2016

A. L. Andrew
A. L. Andrew*
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, La Trobe University, Victoria 3083, Australia
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Extract

The word “lesson” came back to Pooh as one he had heard before somewhere. “There’s a thing called Twy-stymes”, he said. “Christopher Robin tried to teach it to me once, but it didn’t.” A. A. Milne.

In assessing the value of the mathematics taught in schools, considerable emphasis is normally given to the use which a minority will later make of it in their jobs. It is the purpose of this article to point out that even those who never use mathematics professionally could better understand important social issues if they had a good basic training in mathematics. This is illustrated by a set of mathematical models related to one such problem— the population explosion.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 58 , Issue 406 , December 1974 , pp. 272 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Mathematical Association 1974

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References

1. Ehrlich, P. R., The population bomb. Ballantine (1968).Google Scholar
2. Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J. and IIIBehrens, W. W., The limits to growth. Universe Books (1972).Google Scholar
3. Freedman, D. S., Freedman, R. and Whelpton, P. K., Size of family and preference for children of each sex, American J. Sociology 66, 141–146 (1960).CrossRefGoogle Scholar