Modeling the World in a Spreadsheet: Environmental Simulation on a Microcomputer - Softcover

Cartwright, Professor Timothy J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801845971 ISBN 13: 9780801845970

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993

Synopsis

Until recently, simulation modeling was regarded as the domain of powerful computers and highly skilled programmers. But that is no longer the case. Thanks to the spreadsheet, simulation modeling is now accessible to anyone with a microcomputer: students and teachers, public officials, engineers and planners, and ordinary citizens concerned about the environment.

In Modeling the World in a Spreadsheet, Timothy Cartwright explains how to create models of different environmental phenomena -- ranging from natural processes such as the dispersion of water and air pollution to social processes such as housing affordability. He also describes models for some of the most exciting topics in current computer research, including artificial life, cellular decision-making, and chaos and fractals. Written for both experts and nonexpert, the book provides complete "recipes" for building and running the models in the most popular spreadsheet programs, such as Lotus 1-2-3, SuperCalc, Excel, Quatro, and others. A 3½" diskette containing Lotus or SuperCalc data files for all fourteen models may be ordered using a tear-out card that accompanies the book (spreadsheet software is required).

About this title

Review

"Harness[es] the open programming environment of the electronic spreadsheet to provide sophisticated modeling capabilities to virtually any planner, and even to the citizen activist with a high school mathematics background. By bringing urban and environmental models closer to their real-world planning circumstances, this book will further the democratization of modeling in planning practice." -- Journal of Planning Education and Research

Edition details

• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801845971
• ISBN 13: 9780801845970
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432