Application of Mathematics in Social Sciences

Done By Leslie Tan Zheng Yu 3S1

Sociology:
- Social science that explores and study human society
- Makes use o empirical in!estigation "also kno#n as
positi!ism$ #hich is a philosophy which accepts only things that can
be seen or proved) and critical analysis (examination of society and
culture) so as to develop theories about human social activity.
- Focuses includes social stratification, religion, secularization,
modernity, culture and deviance.
- Approaches include qualitative and quantitative research techniques.
- ew mathematical and computation techniques li!e agent based
modelling and social network analysis has been used in recent
decades
Agent based modelling:
- a model simulating actions and interactions %et#een
autonomous agents to ind out the eect on the system&
- So as to predict complex phenomena %y using simple rule to
generate complex %eha!iour&
- Make use o game theory$ complex systems$
computational sociology$ multi-agent systems$ and
evolutionary programming&
Game theory:
- 'pplied mathematics used in social science especially in
economics$ %iology$ engineering$ political science$
international relation$ computer science and philosophy&
- The main purpose it to mathematically capture %eha!iour in
strategic situations$ #here an indi!idual(s choice is inluenced
%y others choices&
- Type o games)
1* +ooperati!e or non-cooperati!e) ' game is cooperati!e i
players are re,uired to ollo# their promises& -n non-cooperati!e
games$ players make independent decisions& They may
cooperate ne!ertheless$ %ut any cooperation is enorced %y the
players themsel!es&
.* Symmetrical and asymmetric) ' symmetric game is #here the
%eneit rom a certain strategy depends on only the strategy
employed and not the players themsel!es& - identities o players
can %e changed #ithout changing the payo$ the game is
symmetrical& /ne example is the chicken game$ #here each
player reuses to gi!e in$ #hich #ill result in the #orst possi%le
result& T#o cars in a collision course epitomi0e this game& - %oth
cars reuse to gi!e in$ %oth car #ill crash& 1o#e!er$ i one car
s#er!es$ nothing #ill happen& The chicken game is also used to
descri%e the M'D "mutually assured destruction* o nuclear
#arare&
' asymmetric game is #here players ha!e dierent sets o
strategy& 'n example is the ultimatum game$ #here %y players
decide ho# to di!ide a sum o money& /ne player can propose
ho# to di!ide the sum o money #hile the other can accept or
re2ect this proposal& - he accepts $ the money is split %ut i he
re2ect$ %oth player recei!e nothing& Since this game is played
only once$ either player can %e the one to choose to di!ide the
sum o money&
3* Zero-sum and non-0ero-sum) -n 0ero sum games$ the players
can not alter the ,uantity o resources& 'll the %eneit add up to
0ero& ' player %eneits the same amount another player loses& -n
non-0ero-sum-game the net resources can %e greater or lesser
than 0ero&
Complex systems:
- represent organised %ut unpredicta%le %eha!iour o systems
o nature that are complex&
- -t is used to model processes in %iology$ physics and
economics
- 'll complex system ha!e interconnected components$ making
net#ork theory pertinent to the study o complex system&
Computational sociology:
- +omputer simulations$ artiicial intelligence$ complex
statistical methods as #ell as social net#ork analysis are used
to analyse social phenomena&
- +omputation sociology is also related to the study o social
complexity& +omplex systems$ non-linear interconnection
%et#een macro and micro processes and emergence ha!e
%ecome part o the concept o computational sociology&
- The construction o an artiicial society exempliies such a
model$ #here a social system can %e analysed&
Multi-agents system:
- ' multi-agent system "M'S* composes o multiple interacting
intelligent agents and it is used to sol!e pro%lems that cannot
%e sol!ed %y indi!idual agent&
- Such pro%lems include online trading$ disaster response$ and
modelling social structures&
- The agents are autonomous$ ha!e local !ie#s and there is no
control agent&
evolutionary programming
- -t is used to stimulate e!olution so as to create artiical
intelligence&
- 3!olutionary programme has no ixed structure& 1o#e!er$ it is
the numerical parameters that change$ not the program
structure&
social network analysis:
- Social net#ork analysis is the mapping o relationships
%et#een !arious groups o people or organisation& The nodes
in the net#ork represent the indi!idual #hile links sho#
relationship %et#een them&
- Social net#ork acti!ity is measured using the num%er o direct
connections an indi!idual has&
- The net#ork paths are not all e,ual& The shorter paths are
more important&

4eerences)
http://www.orgnet.com/sna.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_analysis#Social_network_analysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_analysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_programming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent-based_model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/omple!_systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/omputational_sociology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/"ulti-agent_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_programming
http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/whatis.htm
http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//schools/game.htm