Math383

Math 383

Arguments from Scale

Scaling laws are simple observations about how “things” work in different scales…

An example from biology: ants lift 50x their own weight. Why does this not hold for me? Obv. the relationship not linear.

Allometric Scaling Law

loosely interpreted as not linear

Finding scaling laws can be a bit of a crapshoot. One general approach is to plot data points to get an idea of the overall picture.

Common sense tells us that the larger an animal, the more calories they should burn in a day. For example- a wee mouse weighs {$ 3.8 * 10^4 $} the weight of a person. Would a wee mouse eat a directly proportional amount of food?

look at linear regression, then log-log plot. we find the three-quarters law

three-quarters law

Dependent variable is independent variable raised to the three-fourths.