Fights-to-the-death occur in many natural, medical and commercial settings. Standard mass action theory and conventional wisdom imply that the minority (i.e. smaller) groups survival time decreases as its relative initial size decreases, in the absence of replenishment. Here we show that the opposite actually happens, if the minority group features internal network dynamics. Our analytic theory provides a unified quantitative explanation for a range of previously unexplained data, and predicts how losing battles in a medical or social context might be extended or shortened using third-party intervention.
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