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The amount of information defining a biological system is vastly larger than the amount of information the human mind can handle simultaneously in its short-term memory. In such a situation the mind tends to simplify, linearize, and consider only a few of many variables that may be involved. This may be limiting when an experimenter interprets his/hers own experiments without help from modelling. Simulation forces its users to look at things that might not be examined in the course of more straightforward data interpretation [Garfinkel 1980]
[Phair1997]
Garfinkel D. Computer modeling, complex biological systems, and their simplifications. Am J Physiol 1980; 239: R1-R6.
Phair RD. Development of kinetic models in the nonlinear world of molecular cell biology. Metabolism 1997; 46:1489-1495.