シミュレーションSimulation

Learn in the textbookData Science and Modeling & Simulation

DefinitionSimulation (シミュレーション) means running a model to test what happens when conditions change, without using the real thing.

ExplanationEven when testing on the real thing would be costly or dangerous, a model lets you start over as often as you like. Reproducing variation with random numbers is called the Monte Carlo method (モンテカルロ法). How far you can trust the results depends on how good the model is.

AnalogyIt is like a rehearsal, where you try several run-throughs before the real event to find the arrangement that works.

Memory hookTo simulate something is, at root, to imitate it.

Learn in the textbookEngineering Technologies That Support Design and Development

DefinitionSimulation (シミュレーション) is a method that reproduces a phenomenon with a model, instead of building or running the real thing, to check the results in advance.

ExplanationA model here means a representation of the target's properties and behavior using equations, data, scale models and the like. Because strength and performance can be estimated at the design stage, fewer prototypes need to be built and broken, which keeps costs and schedules down. Conditions that would be dangerous or impossible to repeat with the real thing can be tried again and again on a model.

AnalogyIt is like moving paper cutouts around a floor plan to decide where furniture will go before you buy it. You can tell whether it fits without carrying anything in.

Memory hook"Simulate" comes from Latin similis, "like". Think of testing with something made to be like the real thing.