[ExI] The Simulators and the Theoreticians

[Amara Graps]

spike:
>Computer simulations may provide occasional breakthrough insights, but
>then become widely accepted as a substitute for thinking and reasoning.

Ideally, the simulated results and the analytical results should give
you the same answer. However solving a complicated problem analytically
usually requires some simplifying assumptions. Those assumptions are
carried through the problem on a macroscale.

In simulations, one has the same physics equations, but not the same
macroscale assumptions that would be needed to analytically solve the
problem. In the results, then, one sees a global behavior and the
microscales are included, as well. Simulations shouldn't exclude
thinking and reasoning, but simulations can give unexpected results.

Amara

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Amara Graps, PhD      www.amara.com
Research Scientist, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado