Название: Complexity Science: The Study of Emergence (+ Solution Manual)
Автор: Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen
Издательство: Cambridge University Pres
Год: 2023
Страниц: 462+68
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)+jpg, pptx
Размер: 30.6 MB

Ecosystems, the human brain, ant colonies, and economic networks are all complex systems displaying collective behaviour, or emergence, beyond the sum of their parts. Complexity science is the systematic investigation of these emergent phenomena, and stretches across disciplines, from physics and mathematics, to biological and social sciences. This introductory textbook provides detailed coverage of this rapidly growing field, accommodating readers from a variety of backgrounds, and with varying levels of mathematical skill. Part I presents the underlying principles of complexity science, to ensure students have a solid understanding of the conceptual framework. The second part introduces the key mathematical tools central to complexity science, gradually developing the mathematical formalism, with more advanced material provided in boxes. A broad range of end of chapter problems and extended projects offer opportunities for homework assignments and student research projects, with solutions available to instructors online. Key terms are highlighted in bold and listed in a glossary for easy reference, while annotated reading lists offer the option for extended reading and research.

Any science will use words from daily life and through refinement try to focus and sharpen the meaning in order to develop specific concepts that form the subject matter of the particular scientific activity. In Part I we discuss the way complexity science uses words such as complex, complexity and emergence to build up our understanding of the behaviour of systems consisting of many interacting components. It is important to be aware of the terminology and its distinct meaning, which sometimes can be different from the use encountered in other situations. For example, we may intuitively think of ‘complex’ and ‘complicated’ as being synonymous. Complexity science makes the distinction that a complicated phenomenon is quantitatively difficult to keep track of. It might be that we try to compute the properties of many different independent components, such as the particles in a gas. This will be computationally demanding but conceptually easy. Complexity arises when the collection of components interact and new collective phenomena emerge possessing properties entirely different from those of the individual components.

What is complexity science? There exists no universally agreed definition. Is complexity science a well-defined discipline with its own subject matter, or is it essentially just another term for science? Let us consider what might be a useful and constructive working definition of the term ‘complexity science’. Consider traditional disciplines such as mathematics, biology or physics. What such disciplines encompass appears more or less uncontroversial. Although with time the focus and methodology have changed, we have some fairly clear idea of which kind of problems biologists and physicists study. We are also broadly familiar with the methods employed by biologists or by physicists. Nor are we in doubt that mathematics, physics and biology are existing disciplines, each with a specific focus and subject matter and well-established institutions and educational traditions.