Simple unity among the fundamental equations of science.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
S A Frank

Abstract

The Price equation describes the change in populations. Change concerns some value, such as biological fitness, information or physical work. The Price equation reveals universal aspects for the nature of change, independently of the meaning ascribed to values. By understanding those universal aspects, we can see more clearly why fundamental mathematical results in different disciplines often share a common form. We can also interpret more clearly the meaning of key results within each discipline. For example, the mathematics of natural selection in biology has a form closely related to information theory and physical entropy. Does that mean that natural selection is about information or entropy? Or do natural selection, information and entropy arise as interpretations of a common underlying abstraction? The Price equation suggests the latter. The Price equation achieves its abstract generality by partitioning change into two terms. The first term naturally associates with the direct forces that cause change. The second term naturally associates with the changing frame of reference. In the Price equation's canonical form, total change remains zero because the conservation of total probability requires that all probabilities inv...Continue Reading

References

Apr 1, 1972·Annals of Human Genetics·G R Price
Aug 7, 1995·Journal of Theoretical Biology·G R Price
Nov 27, 2008·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·S A Frank
Apr 11, 2012·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·S A Frank

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Citations

Mar 10, 2020·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Jussi LehtonenHeikki Helanterä

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