Modeling

The term “model” is often used to refer to some person or object—a person who shows-off clothing designs, or a small-scale replica of any of a variety of things. How does a model car differ from a toy car, though? How does a clothing model differ from someone who is simply wearing the same clothes? How does a mathematical equation differ from a quantitative model? The thing that makes a model unique is that it is a representation of something else—it is not the model itself that is of interest but, rather, the thing of which the model is intended to represent. A model of a car is an exact copy of a real car, except on a much smaller scale and generally does not function except as a copy of a car the model-builder enjoys. Clothing models are not the stars of fashion shows, the clothing designers are, and the models function as a representation of what people will look like wearing the designs being shown. Quantitative models exist as a representation of some system, mechanism, process, organization, or subject; they include exact measurements associated with the thing it represents, providing useful information about it to its user. A quality model will allow the user to not only derive information about a single moment of time in the existence of the thing being modeled, but will allow the user to run simulations under varying conditions, perform stress-tests to determine the limits of what is possible, and predict results.