Simulations
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| simulation/ˌsɪmjʊˈleɪʃn/ | A program that models a real-world phenomenon. |
| phenomenon/fɪˈnɒmɪnən/ | phenomenon |
| abstraction/əbˈstrækʃn/ | Representing essential features while leaving out unnecessary detail. |
| Reduced risk/rɪˈdjuːst rɪsk/ | Reduced risk |
| randomness/ˈrændəmnəs/ | The property of outcomes being governed by chance rather than determined with certainty in advance. |
| limitations/ˌlɪmɪˈteɪʃnz/ | A restriction or weakness that reduces what a method, result or system can establish or achieve. |
Modeling the real world
- A simulation 模拟程序 is a program that models a real-world phenomenon 现象.
- That could be weather, traffic, or the spread of a disease.
- It lets you study something without doing it for real.
- A simulation is a model you can run.
A simulation is a program that:
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It represents something real, like weather or traffic.
Simulations simplify
- Simulations use abstraction 抽象 to simplify and represent reality.
- A traffic simulation models cars and roads but ignores each car's colour.
- That detail does not affect traffic flow, so it is left out.
- Keeping only what matters makes the model runnable.
A simulation simplifies a real situation, runs many times and estimates outcomes
Benefit or limitation of a simulation?
Simulations are cheaper, safer, and faster than real trials, but they leave out details, so every model has limitations.
A traffic simulation ignores each car's colour because:
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Abstraction simplifies reality to what the model needs.
Which are benefits of a simulation over a real trial? (Select all that apply)
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A model is never perfectly accurate — that is its limitation.
Why simulate
- Lower cost. Testing a bridge design in software is far cheaper than building a real one.
- Reduced risk 风险. You can crash a virtual car many times with no danger to anyone.
- Speed and scale. Run years of change in seconds, or test thousands of cases.
- These are the real advantages over a physical trial.
Adding randomness can make a simulation more realistic.
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Real events are not perfectly predictable, so randomness helps.
The details and assumptions a model leaves out cause its ______.
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A model is only as good as the choices about what to include.
A dice-game simulation assuming perfectly fair dice is an example of a:
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The simplifying assumption is where the model differs from reality.
Randomness and limits
- Adding randomness 随机性 makes a simulation more realistic, since real events are not perfectly predictable.
- But every simulation has limitations 局限性, from the details it leaves out.
Dice game. A program rolls two dice 10,000 times and counts totals of 7 — far cheaper and faster than real dice, and randomness makes each run realistic. But it assumes the dice are perfectly fair; a slightly weighted real dice would differ. That gap is a limitation.
A simulation models a real-world phenomenon, using abstraction to keep only what matters. It wins on lower cost, reduced risk, and speed/scale, and randomness adds realism. But every model has limitations from the assumptions and details it leaves out.