James Stewart-Calculus_ Early Transcendentals-Cengage Learning (2015)

9
Differential Equations
In the last section of this
chapter we use pairs of
differential equations to
investigate the relationship
between populations of
predators and prey, such as
jaguars and wart hogs, wolves
and rabbits, lynx and hares,
and ladybugs and aphids.
© Dennis Donohue / Shutterstock.com
Perhaps the most important of all the applications of calculus is to differential equations.
When physical scientists or social scientists use calculus, more often than not it is to analyze a
differential equation that has arisen in the process of modeling some phenomenon that they are
studying. Although it is often impossible to find an explicit formula for the solution of a differential
equation, we will see that graphical and numerical approaches provide the needed information.
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