Continuous modelling is the
mathematical
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
practice of applying a
model to
continuous data (data which has a potentially infinite number, and divisibility, of attributes). They often use
differential equation
In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, a ...
s and are converse to
discrete modelling Discrete modelling is the discrete analogue of continuous modelling
Continuous modelling is the mathematical practice of applying a model to continuous data (data which has a potentially infinite number, and divisibility, of attributes). They ofte ...
.
Modelling is generally broken down into several steps:
* Making assumptions about the data: The modeller decides what is influencing the data and what can be safely ignored.
* Making equations to fit the assumptions.
* Solving the equations.
* Verifying the results: Various statistical tests are applied to the data and the model and compared.
* If the model passes the verification progress, putting it into practice.
* If the model fails the verification progress, altering it and subjecting it again to verification; if it persists in fitting the data more poorly than a competing model, it is abandoned.
External links
Definition by the UK National Physical Laboratory
Applied mathematics
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