A COMPUTER MODEL OF THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING

The following model and its description is presented as a useful teaching tool and also as an example of the ease of developing the differential equations of a physiological system and then solv-ing them through simple numerical integration on a digital com-puter. The physiological model itself is well-established (l-5, 8). Unlike models using a series of algebraic equations, this im-plementation, like more complex system simulations solves a set of interacting, possibly non-linear, differential equations. Using the same approach, all sorts of relationships (respiration, neural action potentials, drug dynamics, compartmental mixing) can be handled without developing an analytic solution for the set of equations. Implementation is not restricted to a dedicated com-puter, a large time-sharing system or the availability of a specializ-ed simulation language. Futhermore, the implementation presented here is interactive; responses from the computer com