Week 4’s exercise → systems thinking
- Connections of species in an ecosystem
Definition
A system is a set of interconnected elements that are coherently organized in a way that achieves something
Three parts of the definition
- Parts (set of elements)
- Relationships (interconnections)
- Purpose (what it achieves)
Systems models
Stocks - quantities that can accumulate over time
Flows - changes in the quantities of stocks
Source/sinks - stocks flow from sources and/or to sinks
Example -- bathtub
- Source: faucet
- Stock: water in the tub
- Sink: the drain of the tub
We are mostly interested in modelling stocks