Chapter 1. System Analysis

Summary

Concepts covered in this chapter include:

• Scientific theories deal with concepts, not with reality.

• Systems theory uses mathematical concepts to describe aspects of the ‘real-world’.

• A formal model is a graph, i.e. a subset of a product space formed by variables characterizing a system or process.

• An observable is some characteristic of a system which can, in principle, be measured.

• A state is a specification of a system or process at a specific instant.

• A dynamic system or process is a system in which the state changes with time.

• Differential equations are a common way to encode dynamics.

• There are many alternative and equally valid ways to represent a system...