Modeling and Predicting Malignant Tumor Growth Using Computer Programs

by Samuel Shiflett

Submitted : Fall 2012

It is often necessary for doctors to create models to predict the future of tumor growth in patients. It was the goal from the outset to create a program that could allow for a doctor to input a function for a tumor’s growth that would then return the function’s first and second derivative. These two functions represent the tumor’s growth rate and the acceleration of the growth rate. Such a program was written using Java as the programming language as it has the widest user base ensuring that more physicians could use the program. This program simply takes in the coefficient and powers for each term in the equation, computes the first and second derivative and then also allows the user to input any integer value of time. It will then calculate the size of the tumor, the instantaneous growth rate at that point in time, and the acceleration of that growth rate. At the end, it will display the function, first derivative, second derivative, and the value for each function based on the time value that was input by the user.

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