Talk:Law of Maximum

Additive ?

 * The growth factors are arithmetically additive. The factors range from 0 for no growth to 1 for maximum growth. Actual growth is calculated by the total multiplication of each growth factor.

This is confusing. When are the factors added? If they are not, then the first sentence should be omitted. If different factors are not added but instead a single factor may be written as a sum of values, then it should be stated in that way and, even better, an example given. (unsigned)
 * The "arithmetically additive" has been removed; clearly the effect is multiplicative. Rgdboer (talk) 00:19, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

Challenge
The topic of this article is obviously Liebig's law of the minimum. A single author is said to support the "maximum" title. Further, the Handbook of Soil Sciences cited has no "law of the maximum". The author cited has been awarded for "diagnosing limiting factors". See also limiting factor. Notability of the title topic is questioned. — Rgdboer (talk) 00:19, 12 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Proposed for deletion today. One week to see interest. — Rgdboer (talk) 02:17, 13 January 2020 (UTC)
 * The handbook of soil conditioners has a discussion of the topic and claims it is not quite the same as Liebig's law of the minimum. A WP:BEFORE-style search shows this topic in several books, so it is verifiable as existing and due to Wallace. That suggests that at the least, this is a candidate for a merge+redirect to Arthur_Wallace. Per our policy WP:ATD, for verifiable material, alternatives such as merging are preferred to deletion. For these reasons, I think deletion is controversial, so I will deprod. --  11:27, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Handbook of Soil Conditioners
Handbook of soil conditioners pages 29, 30 Law of Maximum

From page 29: "Both Liebig's Law of the Minimum (describing severe stresses) and Mitscherlich’s Las of the Minimum (describing less severe stresses) are real but [there] are different responses to inputs differ [sic] for each."

From page 31: discussing optimal yield as 1.0 "Approaching 1.0 where limiting factor are minimal is defined to be the Law of the Maximum."

From page 32: "Mitscherlich-type limitations: factors that do not hinder proportionate response to correction of other factors."

Perhaps reference is to Eilhard Mitscherlich or his son, but no biographical identity in the Handbook. The distinction between severe and less severe stress factors is unusual. This particular title may not measure up to usual standards of a CRC Press publication. — Rgdboer (talk) 02:06, 15 January 2020 (UTC) (rev title) — Rgdboer (talk) 02:09, 15 January 2020 (UTC)

Origin
View Mitscherlich's law for relevant literature. — Rgdboer (talk) 04:16, 9 February 2020 (UTC)