Biology and maths

[Sriram]

Hi everyone,

Some mathematical models of the covid spread seem to be fairly accurate.  How can the behavior of a virus be plotted mathematically?

Does it mean that even human behavior can be mathematically predicted (broadly)?

Cheers.

Sriram

[Outrider]

I think it's only fairly broadly - the nature of organic growth is that the detail is hard to predict, but the broader sweeps can be fairly reliably modelled. It's a bit like the weather, meteorologists can tell you it will rain more in spring than summer, but can only tell you if it will rain in Dulwich on April 25th accurately from about April 20th.

O.

[Harrowby Hall]

Hi everyone,

Some mathematical models of the covid spread seem to be fairly accurate.  How can the behavior of a virus be plotted mathematically?

Does it mean that even human behavior can be mathematically predicted (broadly)?

Cheers.

Sriram

I don't think that it has been the behaviour of the virus that has been plotted, Sriram, but that of its human hosts.