Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Models and simulations of all kinds are tools for dealing with reality. Humans have always used mental models to better understand the world around them: to make plans, to consider different possibilities, to share ideas with others, to test changes, and to determine whether or not the development of an idea is feasible. The book Modeling and Simulation uses exactly the same approach except that the traditional mental model is translated into a computer model, and the simulations of alternative outcomes under varying conditions are programmed on the computer. The advantage of this method is that the computer can track the multitude of implications and consequences in complex relationships much more quickly and reliably than the human mind. This unique interdisciplinary text not only provides a self contained and complete guide to the methods and mathematical background of modeling and simulation software (SIMPAS) and a collection of 50 systems models on an accompanying diskette. Students from fields as diverse as ecology and economics will find this clear interactive package an instructive and engaging guide.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Bossel provides a guide to the methodology surrounding the mathematical modeling and simulation of dynamic systems. An accompanying floppy disk contains several simulators (the SIMPAS and zoo programs), allowing experimentation with a number of the examples provided in the book. (One will need the Turbo Pascal compiler system from Borland, Inc. to run this software as is.) There are many aspects to creating executable models for simulation, and this book covers the majority of them. From path analysis to system design for systems of N variables, this book is representative of the activities needed in developing suitable simulations of dynamic systems. The book is well organized into sections that build upon each other as one progresses through the material, and many illustrations are provided to help clarify concepts. The level of the material is appropriate for upper-division undergraduate students and graduate students, and requires comfort with the mathematical languages of partial differential equations, integration, and linear algebra (none of which are summarized in the text). F. H. Wild III; University of Rhode Island