A Mathematical Model For a Spreading Zombie Infestation 121
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."
Been done by computer scientists already (Score:5, Informative)
Prior art: http://kevan.org/proce55ing/zombies/ [kevan.org]
They're wrong... (Score:1, Informative)
If Shaun of the Dead (movie) is any indication, being aggressive and fast isn't the way to go about defeating hordes of zombies.
1) Relax, ignore them at first. Be completely oblivious, not knowing they're even around is useful.
2) Once they can't be ignored anymore, stand back a little and have a pleasant conversation with a friend about it if you have any left. Maybe throw a few vinyl records.
3) Don't try to survive by staying somewhere safe like a hi-rise flat, head to the nearest pub with easy to break windows and poor locks.
4) Walk, don't run and bicker a lot with the other survivors, shouting helps.
5) If someone gets bit, keep them around a bit, even drive with them or hug them if you can.
6) Try playing dead, moan and walk like a zombie this always tricks them.
7) Wait for the calvary to arrive, your government is probably playing it cool. They'll be around in due time.
Senior author (Score:2, Informative)
The senior author is a professor at the university I attend--he is a super nice guy and does very interesting non-zombie related research too.