This document discusses nuclear reactor theory and modeling approaches. It introduces the neutron flux as the main variable and describes how it is necessary to approximate the behavior of neutrons using methods like Monte Carlo, analytic transport, and diffusion approximations. It then discusses the diffusion approximation and equation in more detail, including the concept of neutron diffusion and boundary conditions. Finally, it discusses moving to multi-group and state-of-the-art nodal methods to more accurately model the energy dependence and heterogeneity in reactors.