Natural complexity : a modeling handbook / Paul Charbonneau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Charbonneau, Paul, author.

Series:

Primers in complex systems ; 5

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Complexity (Philosophy).

Physics--Methodology.

Physics.

Computational complexity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 376 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book provides a short, hands-on introduction to the science of complexity using simple computational models of natural complex systems-with models and exercises drawn from physics, chemistry, geology, and biology. By working through the models and engaging in additional computational explorations suggested at the end of each chapter, readers very quickly develop an understanding of how complex structures and behaviors can emerge in natural phenomena as diverse as avalanches, forest fires, earthquakes, chemical reactions, animal flocks, and epidemic diseases.Natural Complexity provides the necessary topical background, complete source codes in Python, and detailed explanations for all computational models. Ideal for undergraduates, beginning graduate students, and researchers in the physical and natural sciences, this unique handbook requires no advanced mathematical knowledge or programming skills and is suitable for self-learners with a working knowledge of precalculus and high-school physics.Self-contained and accessible, Natural Complexity enables readers to identify and quantify common underlying structural and dynamical patterns shared by the various systems and phenomena it examines, so that they can form their own answers to the questions of what natural complexity is and how it arises.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

1 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS COMPLEXITY?

2. ITERATED GROWTH

3. AGGREGATION

4. PERCOLATION

5. SANDPILES

6. FOREST FIRES

7. TRAFFIC JAMS

8. EARTHQUAKES

9. EPIDEMICS

10. FLOCKING

11. PATTERN FORMATION

12. EPILOGUE: NATURAL COMPLEXITY

A. BASIC ELEMENTS OF THE PYTHON PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

B. PROBABILITY DENSITY FUNCTIONS

C. RANDOM NUMBERS AND WALKS

D. LATTICE COMPUTATION

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9781400885497

1400885493

OCLC:

980848243