A Primer on Mathematical Modelling

In this book we describe the magic world of mathematical models: starting from real-life problems, we formulate them in terms of equations, transform equations into algorithms and algorithms into programs to be executed on computers.

A broad variety of examples and exercises illustrate that properly designed models can, e.g.: predict the way the number of dolphins in the Aeolian Sea will change as food availability and fishing activity vary; describe the blood flow in a capillary network; calculate the PageRank of websites.

This book is addressed to any student interested in learning how to construct and apply mathematical models.

1. A warm-up to models.- 2. Getting started.- 3. Reckoning with the computer.- 4. A virtual surfer for the web.- 5. A network of capillaries.- 6. Predators and preys in the maths ocean.- 7. Take-home message.- 8. Solutions to exercises.

Paola Gervasio completed her PhD in Mathematics at the University of Milan (Italy) in 1995, and she has been an Associate Professor of Numerical Analysis at the University of Brescia (Italy) since 2005.
She is the author of 4 books and of about 40 papers. Her research focuses on the approximation of partial differential equations by high-order methods and domain decomposition techniques, particularly in the context of multi-physics problems.

Alfio Quarteroni is a Professor of Numerical Analysis at Politecnico of Milan and Professor Emeritus at EPFL of Lausanne. He is the author of 25 books and about 400 papers, and editor of 9 books. He is the recipient of two ERC Advanced Grants; the Galileian Chair from the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa; the Galileo international prize for Science; and an honorary doctorate in Naval Engineering from the University of Trieste. He is member of the Italian Academy of Science, the European Academy of Science, the Academia Europaea, and the Lisbon Academy of Science. His research interests include mathematical and numerical modeling for fluid mechanics, geophysics, medicine and the improvement of sports performance. His research group at EPFL carried out the mathematical simulation for the Alinghi sailing boat, which won the America's Cup in 2003 and 2007.