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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematical model | 4/5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_model | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:24:19.245253+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Significance in the natural sciences == Mathematical models are of great importance in the natural sciences, particularly in physics. Physical theories are almost invariably expressed using mathematical models. Throughout history, more and more accurate mathematical models have been developed. Newton's laws accurately describe many everyday phenomena, but at certain limits theory of relativity and quantum mechanics must be used. It is common to use idealized models in physics to simplify things. Massless ropes, point particles, ideal gases and the particle in a box are among the many simplified models used in physics. The laws of physics are represented with simple equations such as Newton's laws, Maxwell's equations and the Schrödinger equation. These laws are a basis for making mathematical models of real situations. Many real situations are very complex and thus modeled approximately on a computer, a model that is computationally feasible to compute is made from the basic laws or from approximate models made from the basic laws. For example, molecules can be modeled by molecular orbital models that are approximate solutions to the Schrödinger equation. In engineering, physics models are often made by mathematical methods such as finite element analysis. Different mathematical models use different geometries that are not necessarily accurate descriptions of the geometry of the universe. Euclidean geometry is much used in classical physics, while special relativity and general relativity are examples of theories that use geometries which are not Euclidean.
== Some applications == Often when engineers analyze a system to be controlled or optimized, they use a mathematical model. In analysis, engineers can build a descriptive model of the system as a hypothesis of how the system could work, or try to estimate how an unforeseeable event could affect the system. Similarly, in control of a system, engineers can try out different control approaches in simulations. A mathematical model usually describes a system by a set of variables and a set of equations that establish relationships between the variables. Variables may be of many types; real or integer numbers, Boolean values or strings, for example. The variables represent some properties of the system, for example, the measured system outputs often in the form of signals, timing data, counters, and event occurrence. The actual model is the set of functions that describe the relations between the different variables.
== Examples == One of the popular examples in computer science is the mathematical models of various machines, an example is the deterministic finite automaton (DFA) which is defined as an abstract mathematical concept, but due to the deterministic nature of a DFA, it is implementable in hardware and software for solving various specific problems. For example, the following is a DFA M with a binary alphabet, which requires that the input contains an even number of 0s:
M
=
(
Q
,
Σ
,
δ
,
q
0
,
F
)
{\displaystyle M=(Q,\Sigma ,\delta ,q_{0},F)}
where
Q
=
{
S
1
,
S
2
}
,
{\displaystyle Q=\{S_{1},S_{2}\},}
Σ
=
{
0
,
1
}
,
{\displaystyle \Sigma =\{0,1\},}
q
0
=
S
1
,
{\displaystyle q_{0}=S_{1},}
F
=
{
S
1
}
,
{\displaystyle F=\{S_{1}\},}
and
δ
{\displaystyle \delta }
is defined by the following state-transition table: