Springer Complexity Explained

This book explains why complex systems research is important in understanding the structure, function and dynamics of complex natural and social phenomena. It illuminates how complex collective behavior emerges from the parts of a system, due to the interaction between the system and its environment. Readers will learn the basic concepts and methods of complex system research. The authors show that very different complex phenomena of nature and society can be analyzed and understood by nonlinear dynamics since many systems of very different fields, such as physics, chemistry, biology, economics, psychology and sociology have similar architecture. The book is not highly technical mathematically, but teaches and uses the basic mathematical notions of dynamical system theory, making the book useful for students of science majors and graduate courses. Still, it is intended to be readable for a more general audience, for those who ask: What really are complex systems?