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From: | Steve Railsback |
Subject: | Re: [Swarm-Modelling] general question on complexity |
Date: | Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:48:57 -0800 |
User-agent: | Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 (Windows/20050317) |
Jacob Lee wrote:
Is the complexity of a system strongly correlated to the computational complexity of a model of that system?
Remember that we do not just build a model of a system (if we are smart and ever want to 'finish'). Instead, we build a model of some particular problem of the system. Until you specify what problem the model addresses, you cannot know how complex the model needs to be.
Among the most complex and uncertain natural systems are marine fish populations. Probably the most widely used model of these populations is:
P(t+1) = r P(t) (C-P(t))The Ricker equation is an extremely simple model yet it solves the problem of predicting next year's population size when all you know is population sizes from previous years.
Steve Railsback
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