Analysis of the human growth curve.

Mathematical techniques are well suited to analysis of growth data. In the past there has been much emphasis on the mathematical description of shape and changes of shape as exemplified by the allometric equation. More recently these methods have been less popular and shape analysis has been handled largely by modern multivariate statistical methods. In contrast, there has been an increasing interest in fitting models to size data, related to time. Many such functions have been described; some for small parts of the growth curve and others for the whole growing period. More recently single, non-linear functions have been developed and their properties and use are now described.