Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/ii/paper-2/6a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 2 6A Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write , with . Besides zero, the fixed points satisfy . If , they areThe derivative is . At a positive fixed point, , so . Thus zero is attracting, is repelling because , and is attracting because .
Moreover,For the iterates strictly decrease and stay positive. Their limit is a fixed point below , hence zero. For the iterates increase towards ; for they decrease towards . Monotonicity of prevents crossing the limiting fixed point. is the extinction threshold. The cobweb plot illustrates these alternatives.
Population cobwebs below and above the unstable extinction threshold
. Details. For there are no positive fixed points, and for every , so all populations tend to zero. At , the positive fixed point is semistable: initial populations below it tend to zero, and those above it decrease towards it. This is a saddle-node bifurcation in the discrete dynamics.
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