title: Two-exponent Lavalette function: a generalization for the case of adherents to a religious movement.
abstract: The Lavalette function is generalized to a two-exponent function in order to represent data looking like a sigmoid on semilogarithmic plots. A Mandelbrot trick is suggested for further investigations, if more fit parameters are needed. The analyzed data is that of the number of adherents to the main religions in the 20th century.
authors.affiliation: eHumanities Group, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Joan Muyskenweg 25, 1096 CJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Group of Researchers for Applications of Physics in Economy and Sociology (GRAPES), rue de la Belle Jardiniere, 483/0021, B-4031 Liege, Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ausloos
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009716:Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted; D012067:Religion; D012072:Religious Philosophies; D012919:Social Behavior