Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

A Mathematical Model For a Spreading Zombie Infestation

Posted by Soulskill on from the integrating-by-parts dept.

cloude-pottier writes "What do you do when zombies attack? Turn to a mathematician to come up with a model for the spread of a zombie infestation, of course! Students at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa have published a paper in a book titled Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress detailing how to model the spread of a zombie population and various complications in managing the spread of the infestation. They even give humans a fighting chance in some cases! The original paper (PDF) can be found at their professor's website."

3 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting, but... by russotto · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Until we manage to create real zombies and release them on the population, we'll never be able to test the model.

  2. Re:Sick of zombies by Lord+Kano · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sounds like the train of thought the Militia type in Michigan go through.

    Or shopkeepers in Los Angeles.

    Or anyone who's aware of events that took place in the 1960s.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  3. Spatial stochastic disease modelling by Spacelem · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Modelling a zombie outbreak?

    That's entirely similar to the work I've been doing for the last year, modelling the spread of a disease among an animal population. I've been trying to work out under what situations culling will lead to an increase in the number of infecteds.

    So, if I name the particular species I've been working on "zombies", and adjust some of the parameters, I've got an SI model that is not only very similar to this, but also includes spatial structure and stochasticity, which is crucial for describing the stability of the disease, and modelling the spread when the population size is low.