Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-topics-in-applied-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2009/a/1/b/ii/solution

Apply the same vertical-then-horizontal cobweb construction to . Since no numerical value of the large initial biological population is prescribed, an exact five-generation list is , , , , . For the plotted example , these values are
The initial slump is followed by rapid growth and an alternating overshoot about , which is now unstable because its periodic-orbit multiplier . A still larger initial biological population can remain extremely small for more than these four updates; the example illustrates the requested construction without imposing an unstated universal numerical starting value.

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