Ways of thinking, ways of
seeing [provisional title]
CUP proposal from Chris Bissell &
Chris Dillon (editors)
Mathematical and other modelling
in engineering and technology
Why?
Much of what has been written about
mathematical modelling has been either
– an attempt to cast traditional mathematics in
‘modelling’ dress, still quite divorced from
professional practice; or
– a detailed study of historical and/or
contemporary practice in the natural sciences
or economics
Why?
Engineering and technology, like science, often
use mathematical descriptions of the world.
Because engineering models use many of the
same mathematical techniques as scientific
models it is easy to assume that they are one
and the same in essence.
Yet in the case of engineering (and technology in
general) such models are much more likely to be
used to design devices, equipment or industrial
plant than for representing and analysing natural
objects or phenomena.
Why?
This means that historically there has been just
as great – if not greater –emphasis on rules-ofthumb, charts, and empirical models as there
has been on analytical models.
Other important tools have been scale models of
various types, analogue simulators, and
analogue and digital computation.
A characteristic of all these approaches has
been to develop new ‘ways of seeing’.
This book aims to studying these aspects
modelling in a broad technological context.
What?
1. Models – what do engineers see in them?
Chris Dillon, Open University
2. Meta-tools for information engineering design
Chris Bissell, Open University
3. Physical models, electrical analogies, and analogue computers:
a history of early computational modelling
Charles Care, University of Warwick
4. Empirical Modelling: the Return of Analogue Computing?
Steve Russ, University of Warwick
5. Expanding the concept of ‘model’: the transfer from technological
to human domain within systems thinking
Magnus Ramage and Karen Shipp, Open University
What?
6. Visualisations for understanding complex economic systems
Marcel Boumans, University of Amsterdam
7. Philosophical Implications of Dimensional Analysis
John Bissell, Imperial College, London
8. Putting the Earth System in a numerical box?
Reflections concerning the evolution of climate modelling
Amy Dahan, Centre Koyre, Paris
9. Modelling noise
Mike Meade, Open University (contribution tbc)
10. Modelling: what is it all about? (title tbc)
John Monk, Open University
Role of SIRG/TERG?
There is still room / time for an additional
contributor or two!
– But I must get the proposal off to CUP early
next month
Provided proposal is accepted …
– Critical readers always welcome
– Of individual chapters, not whole thing!
CUP not keen on provisional title … ??