Introduction to the Modeling and Analysis of Complex Systems by Hiroki Sayama.
From the webpage:
Introduction to the Modeling and Analysis of Complex Systems introduces students to mathematical/computational modeling and analysis developed in the emerging interdisciplinary field of Complex Systems Science. Complex systems are systems made of a large number of microscopic components interacting with each other in nontrivial ways. Many real-world systems can be understood as complex systems, where critically important information resides in the relationships between the parts and not necessarily within the parts themselves. This textbook offers an accessible yet technically-oriented introduction to the modeling and analysis of complex systems. The topics covered include: fundamentals of modeling, basics of dynamical systems, discrete-time models, continuous-time models, bifurcations, chaos, cellular automata, continuous field models, static networks, dynamic networks, and agent-based models. Most of these topics are discussed in two chapters, one focusing on computational modeling and the other on mathematical analysis. This unique approach provides a comprehensive view of related concepts and techniques, and allows readers and instructors to flexibly choose relevant materials based on their objectives and needs. Python sample codes are provided for each modeling example.
This textbook is available for purchase in both grayscale and color via Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com.
Do us all a favor and pass along the purchase options for classroom hard copies. This style of publishing will last only so long as a majority of us support it. Thanks!
From the introduction:
This is an introductory textbook about the concepts and techniques of mathematical/computational modeling and analysis developed in the emerging interdisciplinary field of complex systems science. Complex systems can be informally defined as networks of many interacting components that may arise and evolve through self-organization. Many real-world systems can be modeled and understood as complex systems, such as political organizations, human cultures/languages, national and international economies, stock markets, the Internet, social networks, the global climate, food webs, brains, physiological systems, and even gene regulatory networks within a single cell; essentially, they are everywhere. In all of these systems, a massive amount of microscopic components are interacting with each other in nontrivial ways, where important information resides in the relationships between the parts and not necessarily within the parts themselves. It is therefore imperative to model and analyze how such interactions form and operate in order to understand what will emerge at a macroscopic scale in the system.
Complex systems science has gained an increasing amount of attention from both inside and outside of academia over the last few decades. There are many excellent books already published, which can introduce you to the big ideas and key take-home messages about complex systems. In the meantime, one persistent challenge I have been having in teaching complex systems over the last several years is the apparent lack of accessible, easy-to-follow, introductory-level technical textbooks. What I mean by technical textbooks are the ones that get down to the “wet and dirty” details of how to build mathematical or
computational models of complex systems and how to simulate and analyze them. Other books that go into such levels of detail are typically written for advanced students who are already doing some kind of research in physics, mathematics, or computer science. What I needed, instead, was a technical textbook that would be more appropriate for a broader audience—college freshmen and sophomores in any science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas, undergraduate/graduate students in other majors, such as the social sciences, management/organizational sciences, health sciences and the humanities, and even advanced high school students looking for research projects who are interested in complex systems modeling.
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Can you imagine that? A technical textbook appropriate for a broad audience?
Perish the thought!
I could name several W3C standards that could have used that editorial stance as opposed to: “…we know what we meant….”
I should consider that as a market opportunity, to translate insider jargon (and deliberately so) into more generally accessible language. Might even help with uptake of the standards.
While I think about that, enjoy this introduction to complex systems, with Python none the less.