Initialtilstander

Initialtilstander is a term used in Norwegian-language technical literature to describe the complete state of a system at the start of a process. It is commonly used in fields such as systems theory, physics simulations, control engineering, and software modeling. The term is formed from initial and tilstander (state) and is typically used to refer to the state of all relevant variables at the initial time t0, including internal memory, configurations, and external inputs, as required by the model.

In practice, initialtilstander are used to determine how a system will evolve under the defined dynamics. They are closely related to, but not always identical with, initial conditions. While initial conditions often specify starting values for observable variables in a set of equations, initialtilstander may emphasize the complete system state, including non-observable or internal aspects.

Examples include a numerical simulation of a pendulum released from a given angle and velocity, where the initialtilstand includes x(0) and v(0); in software, initializing an object's fields constitutes the initial tilstand; in control systems, the starting configuration of a robot arm or a process control loop constitutes the initial tilstand.

Notes on terminology: In Norwegian, tilstand can mean state or condition; initialtilstander is sometimes used interchangeably with initial conditions in translation, but some authors reserve tilstander for the full, potentially non-observable system state.

See also: initial condition, state vector, boundary condition, system state, simulation.