© 1999 by Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
Modelling Traffic Flow: Solving and Interpreting Differential Equations
Mark McCartney is a Research Officer at the University of Ulster. Previous to his appointment at the University of Ulster he was a Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Abertay Dundee. His research interests include theoretical atomic physics and the mathematical modelling of traffic flow.
Malachy Carey is professor of Management Science in the Faculty of Business and Management at the University of Ulster. Prior to that he was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and before that Associate Professor at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. His current research interests are in modelling flows, congestion and pricing for road traffic networks and in operations managements and scheduling for public transport
Address for correspondence: Operations Research Group, Faculty of Business and Management, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, BT37 0QB, Northern Ireland, (m.mccartney{at}ulst.ac.uk), (m.carey{at}ulst.ac.uk)
A simple mathematical model for how traffic flows along a road is introduced. The resulting first-order ordinary differential equations can be used as an application of solution techniques taught at A-level and first year undergraduate level, and as a motivator to encourage students to think critically about the physical interpretation of the results which the equation produces.