Accompanying the book, as with all TELOS sponsored publications, is an electronic component. In this case it is a DOS-Diskette produced by one of the coauthors, Paul Wellin. This diskette consists of "Mathematica "notebooks and packages which contain the codes for all examples and exercises in the book, as well as additional materials intended to extend many ideas covered in the text. It is of great value to teachers, students, and others using this book to learn how to effectively program with "Mathematica" .

This is the first volume in a suite of short, inexpensive, paperbound volumes intended for student usage as textbooks, or course supplements, and for purchase as single-copy reference works for professionals in specific disciplines, and, in some cases, for interdisciplinary use. This title focuses on cellular automata simulations while using Mathematica, thus its audience is a generally broad one, although physicists, life scientists and engineers will find this title to be of particular interest.
Those familiar with Gaylord's previous book, coauthored with Paul Wellin, "Computer Simulations with Mathematica - Explorations in Complex Biological and Physical Systems," also published by TELOS, will find this new title to be an in-depth extension of some topics dealt with in that book. Modeling Nature: Cellular Automata Simulations with Mathematica, however, contains simulations not found in the Gaylord-Wellin volume. This book will have a DOS-diskette packaged with it, enabling cross-platform access to the code. These data files will also be made accessible online via the Internet at telospub.com FTP and WWW sites.

An exploration of the basis for social and economic behaviour. Using cellular automata in particular, the authors model various factors that are involved in a system of individuals who interact socially and economically with one another. Computer simulations in the social sciences provide a laboratory in which qualitative ideas about social and economic interactions can be tested. This brings a new dimension to the science, where 'explanations' abound, but are rarely subject to much experimental testing. The authors have chosen Mathematica because it has a number of features which make it uniquely qualified for use by social scientists, especially those without expertise in computer programming. Further, users can easily access and readily interact with the various 3.0 Mathematica notebooks, plus other data to be found at www.telospub.com.

This introduction has been designed to teach Mathematica as a programming language to scientists, engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists. The text may be used in a first or second course on programming at the undergraduate level or in a Mathematica-related course in engineering, mathematics or the sciences. It is also intended for individual study by students and professionals. The text does not assume familiarity with Mathematica, nor does it require prior programming experience. The book and diskette contain over 200 exercises drawn from many areas of science, engineering, mathematics and computer science.