In this book we describe the magic world of mathematical models: starting from real-life problems, we formulate them in terms of equations, transform equations into algorithms and algorithms into programs to be executed on computers. A broad variety of examples and exercises illustrate that properly designed models can, e.g.: predict the way the number of dolphins in the Aeolian Sea will change as food availability and fishing activity vary; describe the blood flow in a capillary network; calculate the PageRank of websites. This book also includes a chapter with an elementary introduction to Octave, an open-source programming language widely used in the scientific community. Octave functions and scripts for dealing with the problems presented in the text can be downloaded from https://paola-gervasio.unibs.it/quarteroni-gervasio This book is addressed to any student interested in learning how to construct and apply mathematical models.
A concise guide to representing complex Earth systems using simple dynamic models Mathematical Modeling of Earth's Dynamical Systems gives earth scientists the essential skills for translating chemical and physical systems into mathematical and computational models that provide enhanced insight into Earth's processes. Using a step-by-step method, the book identifies the important geological variables of physical-chemical geoscience problems and describes the mechanisms that control these variables. This book is directed toward upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers, and professionals who want to learn how to abstract complex systems into sets of dynamic equations. It shows students how to recognize domains of interest and key factors, and how to explain assumptions in formal terms. The book reveals what data best tests ideas of how nature works, and cautions against inadequate transport laws, unconstrained coefficients, and unfalsifiable models. Various examples of processes and systems, and ample illustrations, are provided. Students using this text should be familiar with the principles of physics, chemistry, and geology, and have taken a year of differential and integral calculus. Mathematical Modeling of Earth's Dynamical Systems helps earth scientists develop a philosophical framework and strong foundations for conceptualizing complex geologic systems. Step-by-step lessons for representing complex Earth systems as dynamical models Explains geologic processes in terms of fundamental laws of physics and chemistry Numerical solutions to differential equations through the finite difference technique A philosophical approach to quantitative problem-solving Various examples of processes and systems, including the evolution of sandy coastlines, the global carbon cycle, and much more Professors: A supplementary Instructor's Manual is available for this book. It is restricted to teachers using the text in courses. For information on how to obtain a copy, refer to: http://press.princeton.edu/class_use/solutions.html
Thirty years ago, biologists could get by with a rudimentary grasp of mathematics and modeling. Not so today. In seeking to answer fundamental questions about how biological systems function and change over time, the modern biologist is as likely to rely on sophisticated mathematical and computer-based models as traditional fieldwork. In this book, Sarah Otto and Troy Day provide biology students with the tools necessary to both interpret models and to build their own. The book starts at an elementary level of mathematical modeling, assuming that the reader has had high school mathematics and first-year calculus. Otto and Day then gradually build in depth and complexity, from classic models in ecology and evolution to more intricate class-structured and probabilistic models. The authors provide primers with instructive exercises to introduce readers to the more advanced subjects of linear algebra and probability theory. Through examples, they describe how models have been used to understand such topics as the spread of HIV, chaos, the age structure of a country, speciation, and extinction. Ecologists and evolutionary biologists today need enough mathematical training to be able to assess the power and limits of biological models and to develop theories and models themselves. This innovative book will be an indispensable guide to the world of mathematical models for the next generation of biologists. A how-to guide for developing new mathematical models in biology Provides step-by-step recipes for constructing and analyzing models Interesting biological applications Explores classical models in ecology and evolution Questions at the end of every chapter Primers cover important mathematical topics Exercises with answers Appendixes summarize useful rules Labs and advanced material available
Mathematical Models in Biology is an introductory book for readers interested in biological applications of mathematics and modeling in biology. A favorite in the mathematical biology community, it shows how relatively simple mathematics can be applied to a variety of models to draw interesting conclusions. Connections are made between diverse biological examples linked by common mathematical themes. A variety of discrete and continuous ordinary and partial differential equation models are explored. Although great advances have taken place in many of the topics covered, the simple lessons contained in this book are still important and informative. Audience: the book does not assume too much background knowledge--essentially some calculus and high-school algebra. It was originally written with third- and fourth-year undergraduate mathematical-biology majors in mind; however, it was picked up by beginning graduate students as well as researchers in math (and some in biology) who wanted to learn about this field.
The subject of the book is the "know-how" of applied mathematical modelling: how to construct specific models and adjust them to a new engineering environment or more precise realistic assumptions; how to analyze models for the purpose of investigating real life phenomena; and how the models can extend our knowledge about a specific engineering process. Two major sources of the book are the stock of classic models and the authors' wide experience in the field. The book provides a theoretical background to guide the development of practical models and their investigation. It considers general modelling techniques, explains basic underlying physical laws and shows how to transform them into a set of mathematical equations. The emphasis is placed on common features of the modelling process in various applications as well as on complications and generalizations of models. The book covers a variety of applications: mechanical, acoustical, physical and electrical, water transportation and contamination processes; bioengineering and population control; production systems and technical equipment renovation. Mathematical tools include partial and ordinary differential equations, difference and integral equations, the calculus of variations, optimal control, bifurcation methods, and related subjects.
This book builds inviscid flow analysis from an undergraduate-level treatment of potential flow to the level required for research. The tools covered in this book allow the reader to develop physics-based mathematical models for a variety of flows, including attached and separated flows past wings, fins, and blades of various shapes undergoing arbitrary motions. The book covers all of the ingredients of these models: the solution of potential flows about arbitrary body shapes in two- and three-dimensional contexts, with a particular focus on conformal mapping in the plane; the decomposition of the flow into contributions from ambient vorticity and body motion; generalized edge conditions, of which the Kutta condition is a special case; and the calculation of force and moment, with extensive treatments of added mass and the influence of fluid vorticity. The book also contains an extensive primer with all of the necessary mathematical tools. The concepts are demonstrated on several example problems, both classical and modern.
The importance of mathematics competitions has been widely recognised for three reasons: they help to develop imaginative capacity and thinking skills whose value far transcends mathematics; they constitute the most effective way of discovering and nurturing mathematical talent; and they provide a means to combat the prevalent false image of mathematics held by high school students, as either a fearsomely difficult or a dull and uncreative subject. This book provides a comprehensive training resource for competitions from local and provincial to national Olympiad level, containing hundreds of diagrams, and graced by many light-hearted cartoons. It features a large collection of what mathematicians call "beautiful" problems - non-routine, provocative, fascinating, and challenging problems, often with elegant solutions. It features careful, systematic exposition of a selection of the most important topics encountered in mathematics competitions, assuming little prior knowledge. Geometry, trigonometry, mathematical induction, inequalities, Diophantine equations, number theory, sequences and series, the binomial theorem, and combinatorics - are all developed in a gentle but lively manner, liberally illustrated with examples, and consistently motivated by attractive "appetiser" problems, whose solution appears after the relevant theory has been expounded. Each chapter is presented as a "toolchest" of instruments designed for cracking the problems collected at the end of the chapter. Other topics, such as algebra, co-ordinate geometry, functional equations and probability, are introduced and elucidated in the posing and solving of the large collection of miscellaneous problems in the final toolchest. An unusual feature of this book is the attention paid throughout to the history of mathematics - the origins of the ideas, the terminology and some of the problems, and the celebration of mathematics as a multicultural, cooperative human achievement. As a bonus the aspiring "mathlete" may encounter, in the most enjoyable way possible, many of the topics that form the core of the standard school curriculum.
An important resource that provides an overview of mathematical modelling Mathematical Modelling offers a comprehensive guide to both analytical and computational aspects of mathematical modelling that encompasses a wide range of subjects. The authors provide an overview of the basic concepts of mathematical modelling and review the relevant topics from differential equations and linear algebra. The text explores the various types of mathematical models, and includes a range of examples that help to describe a variety of techniques from dynamical systems theory. The book’s analytical techniques examine compartmental modelling, stability, bifurcation, discretization, and fixed-point analysis. The theoretical analyses involve systems of ordinary differential equations for deterministic models. The text also contains information on concepts of probability and random variables as the requirements of stochastic processes. In addition, the authors describe algorithms for computer simulation of both deterministic and stochastic models, and review a number of well-known models that illustrate their application in different fields of study. This important resource: Includes a broad spectrum of models that fall under deterministic and stochastic classes and discusses them in both continuous and discrete forms Demonstrates the wide spectrum of problems that can be addressed through mathematical modelling based on fundamental tools and techniques in applied mathematics and statistics Contains an appendix that reveals the overall approach that can be taken to solve exercises in different chapters Offers many exercises to help better understand the modelling process Written for graduate students in applied mathematics, instructors, and professionals using mathematical modelling for research and training purposes, Mathematical Modelling: A Graduate Textbook covers a broad range of analytical and computational aspects of mathematical modelling.
Employing a practical, "learn by doing" approach, this first-rate text fosters the development of the skills beyond the pure mathematics needed to set up and manipulate mathematical models. The author draws on a diversity of fields — including science, engineering, and operations research — to provide over 100 reality-based examples. Students learn from the examples by applying mathematical methods to formulate, analyze, and criticize models. Extensive documentation, consisting of over 150 references, supplements the models, encouraging further research on models of particular interest. The lively and accessible text requires only minimal scientific background. Designed for senior college or beginning graduate-level students, it assumes only elementary calculus and basic probability theory for the first part, and ordinary differential equations and continuous probability for the second section. All problems require students to study and create models, encouraging their active participation rather than a mechanical approach. Beyond the classroom, this volume will prove interesting and rewarding to anyone concerned with the development of mathematical models or the application of modeling to problem solving in a wide array of applications.
