Agent-Based and Individual-Based Modeling : A Practical Introduction

The essential textbook on agent-based modeling―now fully updated and expanded

Agent-Based and Individual-Based Modeling has become the standard textbook on the subject for classroom use and self-instruction. Drawing on the latest version of NetLogo and fully updated with new examples, exercises, and an enhanced text for easier comprehension, this is the essential resource for anyone seeking to understand how the dynamics of biological, social, and other complex systems arise from the characteristics of the agents that make up these systems.

Steven Railsback and Volker Grimm lead students stepwise through the processes of designing, programming, documenting, and doing scientific research with agent-based models, focusing on the adaptive behaviors that make these models necessary. They cover the fundamentals of modeling and model analysis, introduce key modeling concepts, and demonstrate how to implement them using NetLogo. They also address pattern-oriented modeling, an invaluable strategy for modeling real-world problems and developing theory.

This accessible and authoritative book focuses on modeling as a tool for understanding real complex systems. It explains how to pose a specific question, use observations from actual systems to design models, write and test software, and more.

• A hands-on introduction that guides students from conceptual design to computer implementation to analysis
  
• Filled with new examples and exercises and compatible with the latest version of NetLogo
  
• Ideal for students and researchers across the natural and social sciences
  
• Written by two leading practitioners
  
• Supported by extensive instructional materials at www.railsback-grimm-abm-book.com
  

Steven F. Railsback is adjunct professor of mathematics at Humboldt State University and a consulting environmental scientist. Volker Grimm is senior scientist in the Department of Ecological Modeling at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ in Leipzig and professor of theoretical ecology at the University of Potsdam.