System Dynamics Elements

The elements of a System Dynamics model: stocks, flows, biflows, converters and constants.

Keywords

agent-based modeling, system dynamics, bptk, bptk-py, python, business prototyping

System Dynamics Elements

The building blocks of a System Dynamics model. All of them share the API documented on Element, including plot() and the arrayed-element methods.

Element	The base of every SD element — equations, plotting, arrays
Stock	What the system remembers: an accumulation with an initial value
Flow	The rate at which a stock changes in a timestep
Biflow	A flow that may run in either direction
Converter	A value derived from other parts of the system, or set at its boundary
Constant	A converter that never changes — and what a scenario overrides