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For an initial mass function proportional to $M^{-p}$ on $M\ge M_{\min }$ with $p>1$, integration and normalization give the displayed upper-tail fraction. The probability integral transform makes $X$ uniform on $[0,1]$ for a randomly sampled birth mass. Evolutionary lifetime regions can then be measured as ordinary areas when the independent age coordinate is also uniform.

Let $S=s/s_{\infty }$, let the interstellar medium have mass $g=s_{\infty }S(1-S)$, and retain fraction $f=S$ of returned material. For $0\le \beta <1$ put $q=(2-\beta )/(1-\beta )$. The integrating factor for the metal mass is $S^{1/(1-\beta )}/(1-S)$. A finite initial gas-phase metallicity removes the homogeneous solution and gives the displayed expression, equivalently $Z=y{\sum }_{n\ge 1}{S}^n/(q+n)$ for $0\le S<1$. The increasing initial gas mass requires pristine galactic gas inflow: gas accounting gives $d{M}_{\mathrm{in}}/ds=q(1-S)$. A fixed initial mass function makes the birth metallicity distribution function proportional to $ds/dZ$ when enrichment is monotone.

A starburst galaxy undergoes an episode of rapid star formation. An instantaneous-burst idealization places all newly formed stars at one stellar age, so their present evolutionary-state fractions follow from the initial mass function at that fixed age rather than from an average over formation times.

The stellar yield is the newly synthesized metal mass returned to gas per unit mass locked into long-lived stars, under a specified recycling convention and initial mass function.