Things tend to multiply and branch. Modelling a process that either creates multiple alternatives paths (like possible ways to play a chess game given the current board layout) or in which entities split into two or more (like a bacteria splitting and filling a petri dish over time) is not as hard as it may sound. The ideal model for this are trees and we also get a lot of intuitive-sounding terminology to sweeten the deal (leaves, roots, branches, and such).
This last module focuses on understanding the (potentially exponential) growth that a branching process can exhibit under unrestricted growth. We also impose hard limits on the total population and the depth of the resulting tree so that we can study how the rate at which splitting happens and the rate at which the rate itself changes over time affect the resulting tree.
This module will help you do the following:
Fiction often brings up the idea of branching, parallel realities in which we choose every possible option whenever we make a choice. Think back on this instant on which you do this assessment, think of the branches of reality would have spun off within the last hour if every choice you made that could lead to any impactful consequence had created a new parallel universe with a new you in it. How long do you think it took you to create the last ten variants? A minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month? Make a little diagram of what were the choices and the options (feel free to replace any personal information with just generic labels like X, Y, Z of 1, 2, 3 for the choices and the options) that shows the way in which the branches were created so as to show how many decisions were involved and how many options were there for each decision.
After this module, you should be familiar with the following concepts:
Remember that you can always look concepts up in the glossary. Should anything be missing or insufficient, please report it.