Discrete Dynamical Modeling

“A very nice book! It assumes minimal mathematical preparation and nevertheless arrives at very interesting and sophisticated results.”–Maurice Kreevoy, University of Minnesota”Suitable for general audiences….Excellent examples and problems from many areas.” –American Mathematical Monthly”The material presented in this textbook will help the reader apply discrete dynamics to many fields, such as business, economics, biology, genetics, engineering, and physics….[Sandefur] supplies interesting problems in all chapters; the answers to all even-numbered problems are given in the text. This book can serve as a valuable tool for researchers developing dynamic models.” –Computing Reviews”A closely related textbook by the same author [Discrete Matematical Systems] was reviewed here previously….Modeling is more self-contained than Systems, in that it includes sections on elementary counting and probability and a short chapter on vectors and matrices (which are used in the final chapter to study dynamical systems of several linear equations). It also has new sections on elementary fractal geometry and on using spreadsheets toexplore dynamical systems empirically. The latter section is especially well-written and could serve as an effective and entertaining tutorial on the use of spreadsheet software….Modeling could be a good choice for-totake an example-an honors course in dynamics at the high-school level. The exposition in both texts is outstanding….I hope that they both remain available in the future.” –The UMAP Journal-The Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics and Its Applications

James T. Sandefur is at Georgetown University.