Comparison of Stochastic and Deterministic Concepts of Bacterial Lag

The shortcomings of the traditional deterministic approach to bacterial lag are exposed in this paper. A more precise, stochastic, formulation is put forward which takes account of the variation of the individual cellʹs lag time. Formulae are given to describe how the lag-distribution of the cells relates to the deterministic population lag commonly used as a practical measure of bacterial lag time.