Some Problems on the Use of Negative Exponential Curves in Biology

摘要

Many biologic processes give responses that decrease rapidly over time to some asymptote C > or = O. The mathematical expressions that describe the various phenomena vary in complexity and form. In order to fit a curve to data in any such situation, one must consider both the formula for the trend and the nature of the deviations or error terms. A discussion of these problems is given so as to indicate to the data analyst the possible choices that are his, relative to assumptions about error terms and relative to technics or methods of estimation. No new analytical procedures are given. (Author)