[Quantitative description of growth processes in man as a basis for the objective comparison of sex-specific data for...

To compare growth processes of feminine human beings with such one of masculine we have taken as realizations of the growth characteristic the morphological height of face (distance between nasion and gnathion), length of nose (distance between nasion and subnasale) and body length of two spatially and temporally different populations. Measured values of these characteristics for different ages of individuals provide the basis for mathematical evaluation. The parameters of the following three types of mathematical functions were adjusted to the measured time course of the growth characteristics: Gompertz' function, inverse tangent and the generalized logistic growth function. The principal possibilities are explained which a mathematical expression can offer for qualitative and quantitative description of dynamical processes. The results of fitting the 3 competitive function types to the course of the measured values are given and several quantitative conclusions are demonstrated arising from comparisons of corresponding growth processes of feminine and masculine human beings.