R. E. Bellman

Systems in which variable time-lags are present are of common occurrence in biology. Variable flow rates are a common cause of these variable lags. At present no extensive body of knowledge exists concerning the effects which these variable lags can cause. Shown here is a method of reducing some differential-difference equations to ordinary differential equations which can then be studied numerically with ease. Subsequent study will deal with situations in which multiple-lags and lags dependent on the solution itself are present.

In a recent article in the Communications of the ACM, R. Wengert suggested a technique for machine evaluation of the partial derivatives of a function given in analytical form. In solving nonlinear boundary-value problems using quasilinearization many partial derivatives must be formed analytically and then evaluated numerically. Wengert's method appears very attractive from the programming viewpoint and permits the treatment of large systems of differential equations which might not otherwise be undertaken.