%0 Book Section
%A Casti, J.
%B On the theory of models and the modelling of natural phenomena.
%D 1984
%E Bahrenberg, G.
%E Fischer, M.
%E Nijkamp, P.
%F iiasa:13686
%I Gower
%P 73-92
%T On the theory of models and the modelling of natural phenomena.
%U https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/13686/
%X It is argued that a modelling relation in an encoding of a set of physical observables, characterising a natural system N, into an appropriate formal mathematical structure. The theorems of the formal structure are then decoded into true statements about N. Various system-theoretic concepts such as bifurcation, similarity, system analogy, reductionism, and complexity are then seen to be naturally expressed.