A computational model uses computer programs to simulate and study complex systems
using an algorithmic or mechanistic approach and is widely used in a diverse range of fields spanning from
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
, engineering, chemistry and biology to economics, psychology, cognitive science and computer science.
The system under study is often a complex
nonlinear system for which simple, intuitive
analytical solutions are not readily available. Rather than deriving a mathematical analytical solution to the problem, experimentation with the model is done by adjusting the parameters of the system in the computer, and studying the differences in the outcome of the experiments. Operation theories of the model can be derived/deduced from these computational experiments.
Examples of common computational models are
weather forecasting
Weather forecasting or weather prediction is the application of science and technology forecasting, to predict the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather info ...
models,
earth simulator models,
flight simulator models, molecular
protein folding
Protein folding is the physical process by which a protein, after Protein biosynthesis, synthesis by a ribosome as a linear chain of Amino acid, amino acids, changes from an unstable random coil into a more ordered protein tertiary structure, t ...
models,
Computational Engineering Models (CEM),
and
neural network
A neural network is a group of interconnected units called neurons that send signals to one another. Neurons can be either biological cells or signal pathways. While individual neurons are simple, many of them together in a network can perfor ...
models.
See also
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Computational engineering
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Computational cognition
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Reversible computing
Reversible computing is any model of computation where every step of the process is time-reversible. This means that, given the output of a computation, it's possible to perfectly reconstruct the input. In systems that progress deterministica ...
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Agent-based model
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Artificial neural network
In machine learning, a neural network (also artificial neural network or neural net, abbreviated ANN or NN) is a computational model inspired by the structure and functions of biological neural networks.
A neural network consists of connected ...
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Computational linguistics
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Data-driven model
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Decision field theory
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Dynamical systems model of cognition
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Membrane computing
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Ontology (information science)
In information science, an ontology encompasses a representation, formal naming, and definitions of the categories, properties, and relations between the concepts, data, or entities that pertain to one, many, or all domains of discourse. More ...
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Programming language theory
Programming language theory (PLT) is a branch of computer science that deals with the design, implementation, analysis, characterization, and classification of formal languages known as programming languages. Programming language theory is clos ...
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Microscale and macroscale models
References
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Models of computation
Mathematical modeling