Cost analysis of arterial branching in the cardiovascular systems of man and animals.

A new scheme is presented whereby data on arterial branching can be interpreted in terms of direct cost to the physiological system. The scheme makes it possible to assess, at a glance, the true degree of optimality of an arterial network. Departure from optimality is indicated in terms of cost, rather than in terms of the difference between theoretical and measured branching angles. The scheme is applied to several groups of biological data and new conclusions are reached with regard to their degrees of optimality.