"Modern control theory and in particular state space or state variable methods can be adapted to the description of many systems because they depend strongly on physical modelling and physical intuition. The laws of physics are in the form of continuous differential equations and for this reason, this book concentrates on system descriptions in this form: coupled sets of linear or nonlinear differential equations. The physical approach is emphasized in this book because it is most natural for complex systems. It also makes it easier to immediately apply the theory to the understanding and control of many different types of systems." "In line with the approach set forth above, the book first deals with system modelling in state space as well as transfer function form. The modelling methods are described with many examples. Linearization is treated in detail. Because computer control is so fundamental to modern applications, discrete time modelling of systems as difference equations is introduced immediately after the more intuitive differential and transfer function models. Many control schemes, based on linearized state space models, are treated in the deterministic as well as in the stochastic case."--BOOK JACKET.