Optima for Animals Revised Edition

Name: Optima for Animals Revised Edition
Price: 9.9 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780691027982

ISBN-10: 0691027986

ISBN-13: 9780691027982

Edition: 1997 (Revised)

Authors: R. McNeill Alexander

List price: $95.00

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Description:

Optimization theory is designed to find the best ways of doing things. The structures of animals, their movements, their behavior, and their life histories have all been shaped by the optimizing processes of evolution or of learning by trial and error. In this revised edition of R. McNeill Alexander's widely acclaimedOptima for Animals, we see how extraordinarily diverse branches of biology are illuminated by the powerful methods of optimization theory. What is the best strength for a bone? Too weak a bone will probably break but an excessively stout one will be cumbersome. At what speed should humans change from walking to running? Should a bird take only big juicy worms or should it eat…

Book details

List price: $95.00
Copyright year: 1997
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 12/1/1996
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 176
Size: 6.65" wide x 8.86" long x 0.65" tall
Weight: 0.572



Preface



Introduction



Optimization and evolution



Maxima and minima



Optima for aircraft



Fitting lines



The best shape for cans



The shortest path



Conclusion



Optimum structures



Tubular bones



Strengths of bones



Compound eyes



Eggshells



Semicircular canals



Herbivore guts



Optimum movements



Bounding flight



High jumping



Walking and running



Gaits of dogs and sheep



Gaits for tortoises



Optimum behaviour



Choosing worms



Food for a moose



When to give up



Ideal free ducks



Two-armed bandits



Hunger and thirst



Gamble when desperate



Hunting lions



Territories



Discretion or valour



Optimum life-styles



How many eggs?



When to make queens



Growing or breeding



Breeding and survival



Sex ratios



A battle of the sexes



Parents and cuckolders



Dangers and difficulties



What is optimized?



What is possible?



What can go wrong?



Criticisms



Mathematical summary



Maxima of functions of one variable



Maxima of functions of several variables



Maxima of functions with constraints



Linear programming



Maximum of the smaller of two alternatives



Calculus of variations



The Pontryagin method



Dynamic programming



Evolutionarily stable strategies



Catastrophe theory


References


Index