Chapter 1
Mathematical modelling
A discursive introduction to the ideas of modelling: the phenomenon,
the model, analysis and interpretation. Various problems are (briefly)
introduced to illustrate the ideas: traffic flow and weather
prediction. Some further examples are also discussed: age-dependent
population growth, crystal nucleation and growth, delay-differential
equations, Lotka-Volterra equations, and energy balance models for ice
ages; and there are some exercises on these, to get things going.
Notice that the staples of basic modelling courses---population
modelling, traffic flow (and chemical reactions) are dealt with very
rapidly; the book is not at an elementary level, even here.