Equation 1 · Part 2 · Dunbar's Number: The Limit That Might Not Exist
Symbol α
What this part means
α is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Its job in the formula
α is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Full expression→Symbol α→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
The prediction itself has a precise origin and it is much narrower than its reputation. Robin Dunbar’s 1992 paper in the Journal of Human Evolution ran a comparative regression across primate genera and found that group size tracked one variable with real predictive power — the ratio of neocortex volume to the volume of the rest of the brain — while the ecological variables he tested alongside it, tied to diet and ranging behavior, did not [ 1 ] . Stated as a model, the claim was this: . Group size as a function of relative neocortex volume, nothing else in the model earning its keep. Dunbar’s interpretation was mechanistic rather than merely statistical: neocortical…
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A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.
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Sources cited in the surrounding passage
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