4. Appendices

4.1 Mathematical formalism of system dynamics

You don't need to master the mathematics behind system dynamics. But "lifting the hood" will give you a better understanding of the mathematical workings of system dynamics tools.

Continuous change over time is mathematically expressed by a differential equation. To solve this numerically on a computer, finite-difference equations are used, which calculate the value of a state (function) at successive instants separated by a time interval. The smaller the time interval, the better the approximation of the function.

These finite difference equations are generally expressed as :