Mathematics in Action - Modelling the Real World Using Mathematics
With 91 Spreadsheet Based Models to Accompany the Text
By Richard Beare
Chartwell-Bratt/Studentlitteratur 1997 (530 pages)
Introductory information
Note on levels of mathematical sophistication
Topics without an asterisk require only basic mathematics (i.e. simple algebra, the idea of rates of change, the awareness of functions such as exp x and ln x)
Topics with one asterisk require further mathematics (as would be covered in British A-level mathematics courses)
A few sections marked with two asterisks are advanced material included to provide more complete coverage for more advanced students.
How to download spreadsheet models
Right-click the download link (Control-click on Macintosh), choose Save target as, and save to a convenient location on your hard disc.
ImagineIT Toolbar for Excel (as used to write the models in book)
For further information click this link: ImagineIT Toolbar
Contents of book
Preface
Chapter 1 What is mathematical modelling?
Types of models and reasons for modelling
1.1 The difference between a model and a problem
1.2 Types of model
1.3 Example one: petrol station pricing strategies Download model
1.3 Example two: Olympic track records Download model
1.4 Example three: Hospital corners Download model
1.5 Example four: Animal fur
1.6 Example five: Loaded dice? Download model
1.7 Reasons for Modelling
1.8 The modelling process
Chapter 2 Getting started with graphs, data and simple algebra
Models based on simple algebraic relationships and graphs, empirical models, curve fitting and dimensional analysis 33
2.1 Models based on simple algebraic functions
Example one: maximising traffic flow - more haste less speed? Download model
Example two: the best place to kick from to convert a try in rugby Download model
2.2 Empirical models
Example one: Search for the missing planet Download model
Example two: The population of England and Wales since 1751 Download model
2.3 Using transformations to simplify relationships
Example one: the growth of a population of birds (log-linear transformation) Download model 1 Download model 2
Example two: The orbital periods of the planets and their distances from the Sun (log-log transformation) Download model
Example three: Growth of a yeast culture - a transformation for the logistic curve Download model
2.4 Qualitative models using graphs
Analysis of the supply and demand for a product Download model
2.5 Dimensional analysis
Example one: Adding up a shopping list
Example two: Forces on an aircraft
Example three Air resistance on balls in different sports
Exercises
Modelling problems
Download flour beetle model Download cooling model
More structured problems
Chapter 3 Modelling Step by Step Processes
Dynamic models involving difference equations (recurrence relations)
3.1 Introduction to step by step models
3.2 Example: Growth of savings with interest paid at fixed intervals Download model
3.3 Words or symbols?
3.4 A model for the growth of a population of annual plants Download model Download geometric growth model
3.5 Difference equation models in general Download model
3.6 Making the annual plants model more realistic by including limited resources - a non-linear model Download model
* 3.7 Limit cycles and chaos in the discrete logistic model
Observing limit cycles and chaos Download model
Bifurcation or Feigenbaum diagrams
The significance of chaos for mathematical modelling and our understanding of the world we live in
Download
model Download
smaller model
** 3.8 Analysing the non-linear annual plants model using cobweb diagrams Download model
3.9 Modelling a nation's economy - using a second order difference equation Download model
** 3.10 Some background mathematics: linear difference equations with constant coefficients
Linear first order difference equations with constant coefficients Download model
Linear second order difference equations with constant coefficients Download model
Application to the national economy model in Section 3.9
3.11 A time-lag model of population growth using a second order difference equation Download model
3.12 Supply and demand for a product - using a cobweb diagram to illustrate a process involving a first order difference equation
Download model Download cobweb model
Exercises
Modelling problems
Download loan repayment model 1
Download loan repayment model 2
More structured problems
Download two year model for annual plants
Download trawler fishing model
Chapter 4 Modelling Continuous Processes
Dynamic models involving ordinary differential equations
4.1 Introduction to dynamic models involving continuous change
4.2 A model of a savings account Download model
4.3 Models involving first order ordinary differential equations
4.4 Exponential growth and decay
The equation for exponential growth or decay and its solution
Properties of the exponential function Download model
Instantaneous rates of change and average changes over finite intervals of time
Example one: World population Download model
Example two: radiocarbon dating of archaeological finds Download model
4.5 Exponential growth and decay relative to a "baseline"
Example When it rains and when it doesn't Download model
4.6 The simple Euler numerical method for solving differential equations
Numerical methods in general
The Euler method
Example one: Growth of savings with interest added on a daily basis Download model
A brief look at accuracy of numerical methods
Example two: Drug half lives and dosage intervals Download model
* Extending the drug dose model to include gradual release of a drug Download model
4.7 Non-linear first order differential equation models
Example one The logistic differential equation for population growth Download model
* Analytic Solution to the logistic equation
Phase plane analysis of the logistic equation
Example two A leaky pond Download model
* 4.8 More accurate numerical methods
* The modified Euler method Download model
** The fourth order Runge-Kutta method Download model
** 4.9 Understanding local error and global error in terms of Taylor's series
** Accuracy of the modified Euler method Download model
Exercises
Modelling problems
Structured problems
Chapter 5 Flow Models and Compartment Models
Dynamic models using systems of linear first order differential equations
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Example one: a cascade model involving containers of water Download model
Applying the simple Euler method to find a numerical solution
5.3 Example two: carbon flow through leaf litter and soil in ecosystems Download model
* Analytic Solution
5.4 Example three: pollution in lakes - a simple a carrier-tracer model Download model
Dimensional analysis of the lake pollution model
5.5 Example four: cholesterol in the body - a two-way carrier-tracer model Download model
** 5.6 Solution of the general two compartment problem Download model
** 5.7 Example five: the kinetics of a pain-killing drug Download model
* 5.8 Example six: Modelling the decline in numbers of loggerhead sea turtles using a Leslie matrix approach
Exercises
Modelling problems
Structured problems
Chapter 6 Population Interactions
Numerical and graphical methods for dynamic models involving systems of non-linear first order differential equations
6.1 Population Interactions
The Hudson's Bay Company records for snowshoe hare and Canada lynx pelts
6.2 Population cycles and the basic Lotka-Volterra equations
Assumptions made in population interaction models Download model
Direction flows and direction fields for predator-prey models Download model
Phase plane plots (or state space diagrams) for predator-prey models
6.3 Developing the basic Lotka-Volterra model
Finite carrying capacity for the prey
Refuges for the prey
Varying appetite for the predators
Combining the three refinements in one model
Download model Download model with nullclines
6.4 Competition models
Phase plane analysis of competition models Download model
** 6.5 The stability of equilibrium solutions
Introduction
Linearising the equations near a point of equilibrium
Possible types of behaviour
Example: The stability of equilibrium solutions in the competition model of Section 6.4
Download model showing time variation
Download model showing phase plane
Exercises
Modelling problems
Structured problem
Chapter 7 Case Study - Epidemics
The progressive development and refinement of a model using analytic, numerical and graphical methods
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The simplest possible model - no recovery or immunity Download model
7.3 A model with recovery but no immunity Download model
7.4 Phase plane analysis
7.5 Model with immunity and isolation Download model
Some simple conclusions from examining the model equations
Application of the model to the Great Plague of 1666 in England
7.6 Model with immunity, isolation and replenishment Download model
Exercises
Modelling problem
Structured problem
Chapter 8 Models in Mechanics
Models using second order ordinary differential equations
8.1 Free fall with and without air resistance
Introduction
Free fall without air resistance Download model
Including air resistance Download model
Numerical solution Download model
* Analytic solution
8.2 Car suspensions, sleeping policemen, and roads in the Outback
Introduction
Numerical solution using the leapfrog method
Download model Download model showing errors
** Analytic solution for the damped oscillator
Sleeping policemen Download model
Corrugations in Outback roads Download model
** Analytic solution for the corrugations model
8.3 Orbits of the satellites of Jupiter Download leapfrog model
Download leapfrog model showing errors
8.4 Projectile motion with air resistance Download model
Introduction
Exercises
Modelling problems
Chapter 9 Modelling Random Processes
Monte Carlo models using random distributions models that calculate probabilities, differential equation models that predict average behaviour
9.1 Modelling using random distributions
Introduction
Radioactive decay Download model Download model with running totals
A random walk model of diffusion in one dimension (example of a discrete distribution)
Download model Download model with running totals
Two-dimensional random walk models of diffusion Download model
9.2 Various types of random distribution
Bernoulli or alternative distribution (discrete)
Uniform distribution (continuous)
Binomial distribution (discrete)
Poisson processes: the Poisson (discrete) and negative exponential (continuous) distributions
Normal distribution (continuous)
Download continuous distributions simulation
Download discrete distributions simulation
9.3 The probability of extinction in small populations with random births and deaths - an event driven model involving a Poisson process
The difference between event driven and time driven Monte Carlo models (or event sequenced and time slicing models)
9.4 Queues for showers on a campsite - two examples of an event driven model involving a Poisson process
A basic model involving just one shower Download model
Extending the model: several showers, peak periods, varying times in the shower Download model
9.6 How birds can migrate over long distances using only minimal directional clues - an example of a Monte Carlo model using a
discrete distribution Download model
9.7 Hedgehogs on roads: comparing five different mathematical approaches to modelling random death
The various approaches to modelling random phenomena
A random death model for hedgehogs
A deterministic model to predict average behaviour
A time driven or time-slicing Monte Carlo model Download model
An event driven or event-sequenced Monte Carlo model Download model
* A discrete time model that calculates probabilities and how they change with time Download model
** A continuous time model that calculates probabilities and how they change with time Download model
Exercises
Modelling problems
Chapter 10 Spatial and Diffusion Models
Models using partial differential equations
10.1 Introduction to spatial models
10.2 Steady flow of groundwater
Introduction
A river flowing parallel to the coastline Download model
Examining the assumptions involved
** Extending the water table model to two dimensions
** Numerical solution in two dimensions Download model
** Water from a well or borehole - a circularly symmetric model Download model
** 10.3 Temperature variations below the soil surface
** Introduction
** Numerical solution in two dimensions Download model
** 10.4 Diffusion in two dimensions
** Varying water table levels
** Numerical solution Download model
** Diffusion of species - muskrats in Europe
** 10.5 Diffusion as a microscopic and a macroscopic process - comparing approaches
** The alternatives of a microscopic probabilistic model and a macroscopic continuous model
** Approximating a random walk by using the normal distribution
Comparison of random walk model with continuous model using a partial differential equation
**10.6 Appendix: a few formulae for use in three dimensional spatial models
Exercises
Modelling problems
Appendices
Appendix List of spreadsheet-based models
References
Books and Articles
World Wide Web Sites
Some additional useful books not referred to above
Index