Estimates of the parameters providing the best fit to the simulated and experimental data.

Left column: fit of the simulated dats with the general model of eqns. (7)(described in the text and Figure 3). Right column: comparison of the fits of the experimental data with either the general model of Eqns. (7) or Smith-Martin model. or Smith-Martin model. Here and are the average times of the first and the following cell divisions, is the delay before any cells undergo their first division, is the initial number of cells, and is the death rate of dividing cells. Standard deviations for parameters were calculated by bootstrapping the residuals 100 times [32], [48]. Simulated data was generated using a log-normal distribution of inter-division times as shown in Fig. 3, with the exponential death rate .