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Lecture Notes in Differential Equations - Bruce E. Shapiro

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Lesson 7<br />

Autonomous <strong>Differential</strong><br />

<strong>Equations</strong> and Population<br />

Models<br />

In an autonomous differential equation the right hand side does not depend<br />

explicitly on t, i.e.,<br />

dy<br />

= f(y) (7.1)<br />

dt<br />

Consequently all autonomous differentiable equations are separable. All of<br />

the exponential models discussed <strong>in</strong> the previous section (e.g., fall<strong>in</strong>g objects,<br />

cool<strong>in</strong>g, RC-circuits, compound <strong>in</strong>terest) are examples of autonomous<br />

differential equations. Many of the basic s<strong>in</strong>gle-species population models<br />

are also autonomous.<br />

Exponential Growth<br />

The exponential growth model was first proposed by Thomas Malthus <strong>in</strong><br />

1798. 1 The basic pr<strong>in</strong>ciple is that as members of a population come together,<br />

they procreate, to produce more of the species. The rate at which<br />

people come together is assumed to be proportional to the the population,<br />

and it is assumed that procreation occurs at a fixed rate b. If y is the<br />

population, then more babies will be added to the population at a rate by.<br />

1 In the book An Essay on the Pr<strong>in</strong>ciple of Population.<br />

53

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