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Equation 2 · Part 1 · The Longest Childhood: Life-History Theory and the Grandmother Bet

Symbol w

ww
ww

What this part means

body weight.

Its job in the formula

w is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

Where the article explains it

where w is body weight and A is a taxon-specific growth constant; most mammals run at a constant of about 1, but “the mean primate value for A is about 0.4” [ 3 ] .

The passage around this formula

where w is body weight and A is a taxon-specific growth constant; most mammals run at a constant of about 1, but “the mean primate value for A is about 0.4” [ 3 ] . Primates grow slowly relative to other mammals of the same size to begin with, and humans, on the same equation, grow slower still during…

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Learn the underlying idea

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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