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Re: More Questions about analysing ABMs
From: |
Paul E Johnson |
Subject: |
Re: More Questions about analysing ABMs |
Date: |
Mon, 14 Aug 2000 23:00:49 -0500 |
Darren Schreiber wrote:
> We compare the outputs with empirical data and also look for nonsensical
> results.
I hate to say this comment really bothers me. "Nonsensical" does not
help here, except in the sense that it might alert you to a bug in your
program.
If a model produces an unexpected result, especially if it does it only
occassionally, you may have found a plum, rather than nonsense. Don't
forget that complexity has as a foundation the possibility that two
"arbitrarily close" points in the parameter space may lead, upon
iteration, to places that are arbitrarily far apart from one another.
--
Paul E. Johnson email: address@hidden
Dept. of Political Science http://lark.cc.ukans.edu/~pauljohn
University of Kansas Office: (785) 864-9086
Lawrence, Kansas 66045 FAX: (785) 864-5700
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