BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

SCALING PRINCIPLE 1)2)

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B. MANDELBROT distinguishes two different aspects of the scaling principle:

"A. Scaling principle of natural geometry: To assume that small and large features are identical except for scale is often a useful approximation in science.

"B. Scaling principle of mathematical geometry: To limit oneself to sets wherein small and large features are identical except for scale is often a convenient procedure in geometry.

He adds: "Part of my work consists in viewing B as having provided a collection of answers without questions and in setting them to work on the questions without answers summarized under A.

"The only fairly wide justification for A is that any sum of many effects satisfying a "central limit theorem" is scaling. This statement is, of course, too loose to be provable, yet a prudent addition of natural assumptions makes it into provable theorems or plausible conjectures"(1982, p.96).

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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