See Also: discrete time model(medicine)
continuous time model(medicine)
Herbal medicine (botanical medicine, herbology, phytomedicine)(health)
discrete(1)(dictionary)
discrete(2)(dictionary)
Discrete(medicine)
discrete(dictionary)
Discrete compounding(finance)
discrete smallpox(medicine)
discrete variable(medicine)

discrete time model (medicine)


discrete time model
<epidemiology> A model in which the system jumps from one state to the next at fixed intervals or timesteps. These difference models are simple to understand but often difficult to analyse; Contrast continuous time models.

The parameters in such a model refer to the amount of change over the finite timestep; they are sometimes referred to as finite rates.

In a (rather precise) sense, a differential equation is what you eventually get from a difference equation when you let the timestep get smaller and smaller and smaller.