Equation describes student behavior

10/16/03 - To the Cigar, There is a mathematical equation that I found in a book from a class that I took last year; it is a differential equation that describes mass behavior:

dy/dt=(1-y)[x(t)+b*y].

"y" is the percentage of a population performing an act at time t.

"x(t)" is the external influence/stimulus such as an exciting speech by an experienced orator, or even something as simple as a televised game.

The "b*y" part is the imitation component. The "b" coefficient can be altered to reflect the specific crowd the equation is being modeled to describe. Certainly some groups of people are more likely to copy or imitate the actions of those around them. There are many factors that would affect this, such as the degree of independent thought exhibited by individuals in the crowd, intelligence and maturity level. And of course there is the drug/alcohol influence factor. At one end of the spectrum we have a group comprised of independent, intelligent, freethinking, mature individuals and at the other end, well, lemmings.

This is the "theory of propagation of a single act in a large population." It's sad that some behave this way, but what's pathetic is that people can be predictable enough that their behavior patterns can actually be represented with a simple math equation, or that you could graph their ignorance on a fucking calculator.

Why can't we all just act like big boys and girls?

Doug Ray