Simulation

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What Does Simulation Mean?

A simulation is any research or development project where researchers or developers create a model of some authentic phenomenon. Many aspects of the natural world can be transformed into mathematical models, and using simulation allows IT systems to mimic the outcomes that happen in the natural world.

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Techopedia Explains Simulation

Part of the challenge with a simulation is setting the scope of that simulation. Many natural models are extremely complex, for example, meteorological data models or models of the human mind. Researchers are faced with the challenge of choosing the most important factors in order to build an efficient simulation or model.

Although it may sound simple, simulation is central to the idea of artificial intelligence and data modeling, and to the advancement of IT in general. Using languages like XML, IT professionals can explore how physical objects or other elements of the natural world can be rendered in a computer program as virtual objects; for instance, creating a complex system of XML tags, a computer programmer could create a virtual "chair" within a software application. Setting these tags and syntax allows the programmer to create properties for that chair, including measurements, hardness or density of material, cushioning or padding, and placement within a virtual room or space. All of these are at the heart of using technology to analyze and evaluate natural phenomena.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.