Re: [Swarm-Modelling] Re: [Swarm-Support] Re: Agent communication and grid models

[Doug Donalson]

I disagree.  mean fierld is used as an alternate term for well-mixed models,
not just spatially homogeneous models.  For example, implicit in ODE models
are both homogeneous space and the well-mixed (your soup) assumptions.  ODEs
are often refered to as mean field models for both those reason.  Then
again, it is not uncommon to find different uses of terms from different
groups of researchers.

Cheers
----- Original Message -----
From: "Russell Standish" <address@hidden>
To: <address@hidden>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 4:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Swarm-Modelling] Re: [Swarm-Support] Re: Agent communication
and grid models


> No! Mean field means that agents interact solely with an average
> background property, not with individual agents. A panmictic model
> (dubbed "soup" model here) has each agent having equal probability of
> interacting with the other agents (or simply interacting with all
> other agents). A mean field approximation is really only valid when
> the effect of all agents is equivalent to the sum (or average) of the
> agents - pretty much when there is no complex emergence in the system.
>
> Cheers
>
> Doug Donalson wrote:
> >
> > Just for reference.  The more common term for "soup" models is  "mean
> > field".
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > D4
> >
>
>
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