From Wikipedia
In the most general sense, a model is anything used in any way to represent anything else. Some models are physical objects, for instance, a toy model which may be assembled, and may even be made to work like the object it represents. Whereas, a conceptual model is a model that exists only in the mind. Conceptual models are used to help us know and understand the subject matter they represent.
The term conceptual model may be used to refer to models which are formed after a conceptualization process in the mind. Conceptual models represent human intentions or semantics. Conceptualization from observation of physical existence and conceptual modeling are the necessary means human employ to think and solve problems. Concepts are used to convey semantics during various natural languages based communication. Since that a concept might map to multiple semantics by itself, an explicit formalization is usually required for identifying and locating the intended semantic from several candidates to avoid misunderstandings and confusions in conceptual models.
Book Excerpts
My Own Writing
Intelligence is the ability to build and manipulate an accurate mental model of the world.
If you keep learning, the older you get, the better and more accurate your world model gets.
You build up your model by reading, listening, experience, and reasoning (induction and deduction).
Models map to one level of detail (scale) of a system.
Summaries are important because they reveal patterns at a higher level of scale.
First we model the world, then we manipulate the model, then we apply the new model to the world.
There is a relationship between hierarchies and stacks.
Base-pair sequences are models of the proteins they code for.
Both art and science model the world.
Planning both develops a sequence of steps by using a model and shows where the model to be developed further.
Decision making and problem solving both manipulate a model.
Information models:
– Maps
– Databases
– Diagrams
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