A Mathematical Model For a Spreading Zombie Infestation

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."

Sick of zombies

[lyinhart]

I am officially sick of the concept of zombies. Yes, they used to be cool and frightening, but nowadays, they're everywhere. In video games (Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, Plants vs. Zombies (what the heck?), etc.), lots of movies (movies about Nazi zombies, Woody Harrelson versus zombies, even another Romero movie), comics books (Marvel Zombies), and even classic literature (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?). Now they're in math too?

It's time that someone called for a moratorium (no pun intended) on zombies in the media.

Oblig.

[dln385]

http://xkcd.com/135/ [xkcd.com]

Re:Sick of zombies

[FlyingSquidStudios]

You're just jealous because none of them think your brain is worthy of eating.

Convergent serie

[gmuslera]

It grow fast but always is limited by the absolute numbers of installed windows PC.

Re:Oblig.

[JoshuaZ]

Oh great. Earlier I worried about zombies. And I worried about velociraptors. Now I need to worry about zombie velociraptors? How about I just curl up under my covers and pretend the world isn't out to kill me.

Pass along to Obama

[Rehnberg]

Once we get done reforming healthcare, perhaps someone could pass this up to Obama and get a plan for a zombie infestation drawn up. Never a bad idea to have one of those...

Missing variables...

[Dahamma]

Unfortunately, after reading this study there seem to be several missing elements:

1. zombie speed and effectiveness. Are these 28 Days Later psycho zombies or Shaun of the Dead shambling loser zombies? And sure, they modeled an "encounter" but it's a simple one-on-one winner takes all. Any good zombistician knows most zombie encounters are between a small band of survivors and a horde. It needs to be modeled!

2. It appears that any individual can transition between the "Zombie" and "Removed" state. There needs to be a 4th (end) state: "Brains Splattered By Shotgun".

3. Bruce Campbell.

Let us

[Anonymous Coward]

Consider a spherical zombie in simple harmonic motion...

Re:Oblig.

[sconeu]

Probably more appropriate: http://xkcd.com/348 [xkcd.com].

Re:Sick of zombies

[Trogre]

FREE O.J.

Where? And do we need to bring our own cups?