BEYOND THE SURFACE: NAVIGATING COMPLEX SYSTEMS VIA ABMS AND HYPERGRAPHS

INTERACTIONS, ORGANIZATION, AND EMERGENT BEHAVIORS ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO ALL COMPLEX SYSTEMS. THESE CHARACTERISTICS CAN BE OBSERVED IN EVERY REAL-WORLD SCENARIO, PROMPTING THE QUESTION: HOW DO THESE INTERACTIONS AMONG ELEMENTS SERVE AS THE FOUNDATION OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS? OVER THE YEARS, RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED VARIOUS METHODS TO ANSWER SUCH A QUESTION. ONE WIDELY USED BOTTOM-UP APPROACH IS AGENT-BASED SIMULATION, WHICH DEDUCES A SYSTEM’S PROPERTIES BY EXAMINING ITS COMPONENTS. ALTERNATIVELY, A SYSTEM CAN BE MODELED VIA A TOP-DOWN APPROACH, SUCH AS HYPERGRAPHS, MATHEMATICAL STRUCTURES ABSTRACTING HIGHER-ORDER INTERACTIONS. THESE TWO METHODS PROVIDE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON THE SAME SYSTEM, EACH OFFERING UNIQUE AND VALUABLE INSIGHTS.