- #1
Gwilim
- 126
- 0
The Problem:
For a species of bacterium, the rate of increase of the population is determined by the following information:
the rate of increase is proportional to the population P(t)
the rate of increase is proportional to the temperature T(t)
My question:
I initially wrote out two separate equations for this, namely dP/dt = aP(t) and dP/dt = bT(t), then using the initial conditions P(0)=1000 and P(10)=2000 and the information T(t)=40-2t solved each, one giving an exponential and the other a polynomial.
Should I have instead solved the equation dP/dt = kP(t)T(t)?
I'm pretty sure the answer is 'yes' but I'd like some confirmation anyway.
For a species of bacterium, the rate of increase of the population is determined by the following information:
the rate of increase is proportional to the population P(t)
the rate of increase is proportional to the temperature T(t)
My question:
I initially wrote out two separate equations for this, namely dP/dt = aP(t) and dP/dt = bT(t), then using the initial conditions P(0)=1000 and P(10)=2000 and the information T(t)=40-2t solved each, one giving an exponential and the other a polynomial.
Should I have instead solved the equation dP/dt = kP(t)T(t)?
I'm pretty sure the answer is 'yes' but I'd like some confirmation anyway.