biology

On Being the Right Size

On Being the Right Size is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand On Being the Right Size rather than just read about it. In short: "On Being the Right Size" is a 1926 essay by J. B.

Key takeaways

On Being the Right Size belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect On Being the Right Size to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of On Being the Right Size from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"On Being the Right Size" is a 1926 essay by J. B. S. Haldane which discusses proportions in the animal world and the essential link between the size of an animal and these systems an animal has for life. It was published as one of Haldane's collected essays in Possible Worlds and Other Essays.

Thesis Haldane's thesis is that sheer size very often defines what bodily equipment an animal must have:

Insects, being so small, do not have oxygen-carrying bloodstreams. What little oxygen their cells require can be absorbed by simple diffusion of air through their bodies. But being larger means an animal must take on complicated oxygen pumping and distributing systems to reach all the cells. Many of his examples are based on the square–cube law, although he does not use that terminology. The bigger an animal gets, the more it would have to change its physical shape, but the weaker it would become.

Influence This link has become known as Haldane's principle (not to be confused with Richard Burton Haldane's Haldane principle), being referred to as such by urban planning theorist Jane Jacobs. Another planning theorist, Christopher Alexander, refers to this principle in his theory of "Independent Regions" in A Pattern Language, citing Haldane:

...just as there is a best size for every animal, so the same is true for every human institution. In the Greek type of democracy all the citizens could listen to a series of orators and vote directly on questions of legislation. Hence their philosophers held that a small city was the largest possible democratic state...

References

External links

Possible Worlds and Other Essays at Faded Page (Canada) "On Being the Right Size"—site with the text of the essay.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with On Being the Right Size

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what On Being the Right Size claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to On Being the Right Size before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about On Being the Right Size ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of On Being the Right Size

In research: On Being the Right Size appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses On Being the Right Size in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: On Being the Right Size is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1926 essays, 1926 in biology, Evolutionary biology literature, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for On Being the Right Size outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study On Being the Right Size in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what On Being the Right Size means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain On Being the Right Size out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is On Being the Right Size in simple terms?

"On Being the Right Size" is a 1926 essay by J. B.

Why does On Being the Right Size matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study On Being the Right Size?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on On Being the Right Size.