A comment on Thomas K. Burch's paper "Does demography need differential equations?

TY - JOUR

T1 - A comment on Thomas K. Burch's paper "Does demography need differential equations?

AU - Willekens, F.J.C.

N1 - Reporting year: 2011

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - The structure of this commentary is as follows. First I discuss differential equations and show that they are more common in demography than is generally accepted, and that they can be used to develop theories of population dynamics. The integration of mathematical modeling with differential equations, and statistical modeling with regression equations, is illustrated. In the following section I briefly discuss software. That discussion leads to a concrete proposal: to use a software package or computer language that facilitates both statistical and mathematical modeling. That language is R, a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics that has utilities to solve differential equations. Section 4 is the conclusion.

AB - The structure of this commentary is as follows. First I discuss differential equations and show that they are more common in demography than is generally accepted, and that they can be used to develop theories of population dynamics. The integration of mathematical modeling with differential equations, and statistical modeling with regression equations, is illustrated. In the following section I briefly discuss software. That discussion leads to a concrete proposal: to use a software package or computer language that facilitates both statistical and mathematical modeling. That language is R, a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics that has utilities to solve differential equations. Section 4 is the conclusion.

M3 - Article

SN - 0380-1489

VL - 38

SP - 169

EP - 177

JO - Canadian Studies in Population

JF - Canadian Studies in Population

IS - 1-2

ER -