Systems and Models

As its title suggests, this book is about a special class of systems which in recent decades have become an integral part of our world. Before getting into the details of this particular class of systems, it is reasonable to start out by simply describing what we mean by a “system”, and by presenting the fundamental concepts associated with system theory as it developed over the years. This defines the first objective of this chapter, which is for the benefit of readers with little or no prior exposure to introductory material on systems and control theory (Section 1.2). Readers who are already familiar with concepts such as “state spaces”, “state equations”, “sample paths”, and “feedback” may immediately proceed to Section 1.3.