top study-index prior next ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BC NETWORK ANALOGY. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ fig. BC1 (situation with the equivalent symbolic network). Each of the basins of the example discussed in BB may be associated with an optimum (maximum, or minimum) point. Projecting them on the observation surface and interconnecting the projections we obtain a network. It may be shown that for a multitude of physical phenomena (particularily for those concerned, as our example, with potential fields) it is possible to map a given situation to an equivalent network. As examples of such phenomena let us mention the flow of viscous fluid through permeable and porous media, the flow of heat, the deformation of constrution elements under given stress conditions, the electric flow in a medium with continuous distribution of resistance and capacity. All these phenomena are described by partial differential equations, whose solution is usually based upon the mapping of a continuous situation into a discrete network. In the case of electric flow, the involved network is associated with the name of Kirchhoff. A SITUATION of ATTRACTORS and BASINS may be mapped into a NETWORK of respectively VERTICES and EDGES. However, this mapping holds only for one given SCHEMA, or distribution of vertices and edges. Within this schema the network is capable of simulating the dynamics of the situation, i.e. the changes of potential at the attractors and the corresponding ractions of the basins (shrinking and expansion) respectively with help of similar changes of potential at the vertices. The mapping is reversible: a given situation determines a specific unique network, a given network determines a specific unique situation. Each vertex represents the dichotomy ENTITY. Its position within the schema represents the entity TYPE, its potential - the INSTANCE.