Computational Mathematical Modeling

Book excerpt: Interesting real-world mathematical modelling problems are complex and can usually be studied at different scales. The scale at which the investigation is carried out is one of the factors that determines the type of mathematics most appropriate to describe the problem. The book concentrates on two modelling paradigms: the macroscopic, in which phenomena are described in terms of time evolution via ordinary differential equations; and the microscopic, which requires knowledge of random events and probability. The exposition is based on this unorthodox combination of deterministic and probabilistic methodologies, and emphasizes the development of computational skills to construct predictive models. To elucidate the concepts, a wealth of examples, self-study problems, and portions of MATLAB code used by the authors are included. This book, which has been extensively tested by the authors for classroom use, is intended for students in mathematics and the physical sciences at the advanced undergraduate level and above.