Explicit solutions and exact model reduction of mass action systems

Abstract: This thesis concerns steady state equations of mass action systems and methods for solving them symbolically in Matlab. We study two different methods for solving such systems with slightly different applicability. One that is fast but limited, the other one is slower but more general. We also study the question of parameter dependence of solutions and model reduction. The parameter dependence is done both for all concentrations and for specific outputs. We apply these methods to a biochemical system arising in neuroscience with the goal of making computations on the system faster and to better understand the behaviour of the system.