COMPUTER SIMULATION
A computer simulation or a computer model is a
computer program that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular
system. Computer simulations have become a useful part of mathematical
modelling of many natural systems in physics, chemistry and biology, human
systems in economics, psychology, and social science and in the process of
engineering new technology, to gain insight into the operation of those
systems. Traditionally, the formal modeling of systems has been via a
mathematical model, which attempts to find analytical solutions to problems
which enables the prediction of the behaviour of the system from a set of
parameters and initial conditions. Computer simulations build on, and are a
useful adjunct to purely mathematical models in science, technology and
entertainment. The reliability and the trust people put in computer simulations
depends on the validity of the simulation model.
Computer simulation was pioneered as a scientific tool in
meteorology and nuclear physics in the period directly following World War II,
and since then has become indispensable in a growing number of disciplines. The
list of sciences that make extensive use of computer simulation has grown to
include astrophysics, particle physics, materials science, engineering, fluid
mechanics, climate science, evolutionary biology, ecology, economics, decision
theory, medicine, sociology, epidemiology, and many others. There are even a
few disciplines, such as chaos theory and complexity theory, whose very
existence has emerged alongside the development of the computational models
they study.
Under the category of heuristic models, simulations can be
further subdivided into those used to communicate knowledge to others, and
those used to represent information to ourselves. Another broad class of
purposes to which computer simulations can be put is in telling us about how we
should expect some system in the real world to behave under a particular set of
circumstances. Loosely speaking: computer simulation can be used for
prediction. We can use models to predict the future, or to retrodict the past;
we can use them to make precise predictions or loose and general ones. Finally,
simulations can be used to understand systems and their behavior. If we already
have data telling us how some system behaves, we can use computer simulation to
answer questions about how these events could possibly have occurred; or about
how those events actually did occur.
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