The art of modelling

Throughout history, men have been making models of the physical events they observe. From cave pictures to surrealist art, from models of the atom to models of the universe, all have sought to focus attention on particular ideas for analysis or for communication to other people. As engineers, we must be particularly skilled in the art of making or choosing the mathematical models of our engineering concepts. Desirable properties of a model, such as the enchancement of areas for which analysis is required and rejection of areas of no interest, seem obvious. However, the computational power at the fingertips of the professional engineer is increasing enormously through the proliferation of calculators and computers. Thus the methods for analysing models are changing, and this means that the models we have chosen in the past may not always be the best for the present and future