Editing Drake equation (section)

==Equation==
The Drake equation is:<ref name="Drake 1961" />

<math display="block">N = R_* \cdot f_\mathrm{p} \cdot n_\mathrm{e} \cdot f_\mathrm{l} \cdot f_\mathrm{i} \cdot f_\mathrm{c} \cdot L</math>

where

* {{math|''N''}} = the number of [[civilization]]s in the Milky Way galaxy with which communication might be possible (i.e. which are on the current past [[light cone]]);

and

* {{math|''R''<sub>∗</sub>}} = the average rate of [[star formation]] in [[Milky Way|our Galaxy]].
* {{math|''f''<sub>p</sub>}} = the fraction of those stars that have [[planet]]s.
* {{math|''n''<sub>e</sub>}} = the average number of planets that can potentially support [[life]] per star that has planets.
* {{math|''f''<sub>l</sub>}} = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point.
* {{math|''f''<sub>i</sub>}} = the fraction of planets with life that go on to develop [[intelligence|intelligent]] life (civilizations).
* {{math|''f''<sub>c</sub>}} = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases [[Technosignature|detectable signs of their existence into space]].
* {{math|''L''}} = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space.<ref name="NOVA">
{{cite web
 |last=Aguirre |first=L.
 |date=1 July 2008
 |title=The Drake Equation
 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/drake.html
 |work=[[Nova ScienceNow]]
 |publisher=[[PBS]]
 |access-date=2010-03-07
}}</ref><ref name="SETI-Drake-Equation">{{cite web | url=http://www.seti.org/drakeequation | title=What do we need to know about to discover life in space? | publisher=[[SETI Institute]] | access-date=2013-04-16}}</ref>

This form of the equation first appeared in Drake's 1965 paper.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drake |first=Frank D. |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1965cae..book..323D |title=The Radio Search for Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life |date=1965-01-01|bibcode=1965cae..book..323D }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=jtw13 |date=2019-07-31 |title=Freeman Dyson's First Law of SETI Investigations |url=https://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/2019/07/31/freeman-dysons-first-law-of-seti-investigations/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=AstroWright |language=en-US}}</ref>