Growth of complex systems can be related to the properties of their underlying determinants.
Growth-increase in size, number, or amount-in many cases appears to follow simple empirical laws. Such laws have been noted in a wide variety of fields for many years. Until now these laws have never been related to the underlying determinants of these systems. By starting with fundamental properties of the component mechanisms in such systems, one can derive a basic growth equation for which the well-known laws of growth are special cases.
Savageau
M A
MA
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.