Complexity

Complexity characterizes the behavior of a <a href="/facts/System/hmqQ4ASX">system</a> or <a href="/facts/Model/Hj8KMwdD">model</a> whose components interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to <a href="/facts/Nonlinear_system/4aYItALC">non-linearity</a>, <a href="/facts/Randomness/QJQBoEX5">randomness</a>, <a href="/facts/Dynamical_system/782gREl5">collective dynamics</a>, <a href="/facts/Hierarchy/mYJyqFrG">hierarchy</a>, and <a href="/facts/Emergence/zlFRW0oj">emergence</a>.
The term is generally used to characterize something with many parts where those parts interact with each other in multiple ways, culminating in a higher order of emergence greater than the sum of its parts. The study of these complex linkages at various scales is the main goal of <a href="/facts/Complex_systems_theory/eGG3B1nn">complex systems theory</a>.
The intuitive criterion of complexity can be formulated as follows: a system would be more complex if more parts could be distinguished, and if more connections between them existed.
As of 2010<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Complexity&action=edit">[update]</a>, a number of approaches to characterizing complexity have been used in <a href="/facts/Science/IJoaD7rs">science</a>; Zayed et al.
reflect many of these. <a href="/facts/Neil_F._Johnson/bN6k2Sw0">Neil Johnson</a> states that "even among scientists, there is no unique definition of complexity – and the scientific notion has traditionally been conveyed using particular examples..." Ultimately Johnson adopts the definition of "complexity science" as "the study of the phenomena which emerge from a collection of interacting objects".

Complexity open-in-new

Complexity