Mathematical Modelling with Case Studies

Mathematical Modelling with Case Studies: Using Maple™ and MATLAB®, Third Edition provides students with hands-on modelling skills for a wide variety of problems involving differential equations that describe rates of change. While the book focuses on growth and decay processes, interacting populations, and heating/cooling problems, the mathematical techniques presented can be applied to many other areas.

The text carefully details the process of constructing a model, including the conversion of a seemingly complex problem into a much simpler one. It uses flow diagrams and word equations to aid in the model-building process and to develop the mathematical equations. Employing theoretical, graphical, and computational tools, the authors analyze the behavior of the models under changing conditions. The authors often examine a model numerically before solving it analytically. They also discuss the validation of the models and suggest extensions to the models with an emphasis on recognizing the strengths and limitations of each model.

The highly recommended second edition was praised for its lucid writing style and numerous real-world examples. With updated Maple™ and MATLAB® code as well as new case studies and exercises, this third edition continues to give students a clear, practical understanding of the development and interpretation of mathematical models.

B. Barnes is a director in the Australian Government Research Bureau and a visiting fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, Canberra. She has published work in a number of applied areas, such as bifurcation theory, population dynamics, carbon sequestration, biological processes, and disease transmission.

G.R. Fulford was recently a research associate and senior lecturer in applicable mathematics at the Queensland University of Technology. He has published several textbooks on mathematical modeling and industrial mathematics as well as other work in areas, such as mucus transport, spermatozoa propulsion, infectious disease modeling, tuberculosis in possums, tear-flow dynamics in the eye, and population genetics.