Related topics: proceedings of the national academy of sciences



Computer simulation

hide

A computer simulation, a computer model or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system. Computer simulations have become a useful part of mathematical modeling of many natural systems in physics (computational 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, or to observe their behavior.

Computer simulations vary from computer programs that run a few minutes, to network-based groups of computers running for hours, to ongoing simulations that run for days. The scale of events being simulated by computer simulations has far exceeded anything possible (or perhaps even imaginable) using the traditional paper-and-pencil mathematical modeling: over 10 years ago, a desert-battle simulation, of one force invading another, involved the modeling of 66,239 tanks, trucks and other vehicles on simulated terrain around Kuwait, using multiple supercomputers in the DoD High Performance Computer Modernization Program; a 1-billion-atom model of material deformation (2002); a 2.64-million-atom model of the complex maker of protein in all organisms, a ribosome, in 2005; and the Blue Brain project at EPFL (Switzerland), began in May 2005, to create the first computer simulation of the entire human brain, right down to the molecular level.

For more information about Computer simulation, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with computer model

results timeline


Modern tests demonstrate soundness of old iron bridge

Modern tests demonstrate soundness of old iron bridge

Technology / Engineering

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 2

An unusual bowstring truss iron bridge that carried traffic across Roaring Run in Bedford County, Va. for almost 100 years is now a picturesque footbridge at the I-81 Ironto, Va. rest stop. Built in 1878, ...


Soil Microorganisms? Role Cited as a Missing Factor in Climate Change Equation

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Those seeking to understand and predict climate change can now use an additional tool to calculate carbon dioxide exchanges on land, according to a scientific journal article co-authored by a University of ...


Formation of the Gulf of Corinth rift, Greece

Formation of the Gulf of Corinth rift, Greece

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 22, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A study of the structure and evolution of the Gulf of Corinth rift in central Greece will increase scientific understanding of rifted margin development and the tectonic mechanisms underlying seafloor spreading ...


Routine screening for postnatal depression not cost effective

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Dec 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Routine screening for postnatal depression in primary care - as recommended in recent guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) - do not appear to represent value for money for the NHS, ...


Cornellians build computer climate-change model

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (7) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are contributing to a new model of climate change that may give more accurate predictions of the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in Earth's future.


Dutch researchers explore advanced brain diagnostic techniques

Dutch researchers explore advanced brain diagnostic techniques

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

At present the task of diagnosing brain disorders using electroencephalography (EEG) is still performed by humans, but in years to come it will increasingly be taken over by computerized systems. This will ...