Probabilistic analysis of linear-quadratic logistic-type models with hybrid uncertainties via probability density functions

Abstract

We provide a full stochastic description, via the first probability density function, of the solution of linear-quadratic logistic-type differential equation whose parameters involve both continuous and discrete random variables with arbitrary distributions. For the sake of generality, the initial condition is assumed to be a random variable too. We use the Dirac delta function to unify the treatment of hybrid (discrete-continuous) uncertainty. Under general hypotheses, we also compute the density of time until a certain value (usually representing the population) of the linear-quadratic logistic model is reached. The theoretical results are illustrated by means of several examples, including an application to modelling the number of users of Spotify using real data. We apply the Principle Maximum Entropy to assign plausible distributions to model parameters.

Keywords

• hybrid uncertainty
• random linear-quadratic logistic differential equation
• first probability density function
• random variable transformation method
• uncertainty quantification
• principle maximum entropy