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Contribution to the mathematical theory of contagion and spread of information: I. Spread through a thoroughly mixed population

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Abstract

An equation is derived from the spread of a “state” by contact through a thoroughly mixed population, in which the probability of transmission depends both on the over-all duration of the process and on the time an individual has been in the “state.” Cases in which this probability is a function of only one or the other of the two “times” are worked out. It is shown that in the case of dependence on “private time” alone the asymptotic value of the fraction of the population effected is the same as that derived by the random net approach.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Committee on Mathematical Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, USA

    H. G. Landau & A. Rapoport

Authors
  1. H. G. Landau
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  2. A. Rapoport
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Landau, H.G., Rapoport, A. Contribution to the mathematical theory of contagion and spread of information: I. Spread through a thoroughly mixed population. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 15, 173–183 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476383

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476383

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