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Simulate THAT!. Jim Caristi Dept. of Math & Computer Science Valparaiso University. My Goal for the next 15 min. Give you a sense of the power and simplicity of using a modern simulation language to develop and interpret models very quickly. To do modeling well requires good tools.
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Simulate THAT! Jim Caristi Dept. of Math & Computer Science Valparaiso University
My Goal for the next 15 min. Give you a sense of the power and simplicity of using a modern simulation language to develop and interpret models very quickly
To do modeling well requires good tools “Good” means • easy to learn • easy to use • powerful
Simulation Software • Arena • Simscript • Stella • MapleSim and Mathematica • VenSim • NetLogo • and many others
Arena • Discrete event and continuous modeling • Commercial software from Rockwell Automation • Full version lists at $1895 per license • Academic version free – limited to 150 entities • Download from http://www.arenasimulation.com/ Go to “Academic Programs”, then “Academic News”, and to the McGraw-Hill website
Simulate this: • Barbershop • Customers arrive with inter-arrival times exponentially distributed with mean 5 min. • Barber cuts hair in 20 min. (normally distributed, s.d. 5 min.) • Want to know how many customers in 8 hours, max and average number waiting, time in system, barber utilization
Simulate THIS: • Bacteria on a leaf in the field grow at a temperature dependent rate • The more there are, the faster they grow • Leaf has maximum carrying capacity • Other stuff
The student perspective • Programming in Arena is no problem for anyone • Calculus is no problem (only a very few exceptions) • Statistics is a BIG problem for almost everyone
Some very cool student projects • Zombie outbreak • Grizzly bear metapopulation • Dutch elm disease • Volleyball scoring change • Baseball • Intersection or roundabout?