First Order of Business: Get your notebook

Open a terminal in vscode, run command: cd _notebooks, type 'wget' and paste this link into said terminal and run it
Take notes wherever you please, but you will be graded on participating

So, what is a simulation anyway?

A simulation is a tested scenario used for viewing results/outputs to prepare for them in real world situations
These can be used for games like dice rolling, spinners, etc
These can be used for practical things such as building structures, testing car crashes, and other things before engaging in them in the real world
These simulations can have the option of obeying real world physics (Gravity, collision) or they can go against these norms since this is a fictitious scenario, and couldn't happen in real life

Big Question

Which of the following simulations could be the LEAST useful?
A retailer trying to identify which products sold the most
A restaurant determining the efficiency of robots
An insurance company studying the rain impact of cars
A sports bike company studying design changes to their new bike design

If you guessed a bike company, you're wrong, because the retail simulation was the right answer. Simulating robots in food service, sudying rain impact on vehicles, and new bike design can contribute a lot more to society in comparison to seeing what products sell more than others.

Next Big Question

If you were making a simulation for making a new train station, which of the following would be true about this simulation?

It could reveal potential problems/safety issues before construction starts
It cannot be used to test the train station in different weather
Simulation will add high costs to projects
Simulation is not needed because this train station already exists

Potential Saftey was the right answer, because you need somewhere to test the safety and ethicness of what you're about to do before you start building it. Otherwise, let's just say you'll have a special plaque for FBI's Most Wanted

Simulation 1:

Both programs below do the same thing. Given a height and a weight, they calculate how long it will take for a object to fall to the ground in a vacuum subjected to normal Earth levels of gravity.

However, the second one is a simulation. It calculates the distance the object has fallen every 0.1 seconds. This is useful for if you wanted a visual representation of a falling object, which pure math can't do as smoothly.

height = float(input("height in meters?"))

weight = input("weight in pounds?")

stuff = (2 * (height / 9.8))**(1/2)

print("It will take", stuff,"seconds for an object that weighs",weight,"pounds","to fall ",height,"meters in a vacuum")

It will take 2.0203050891044216 seconds for an object that weighs 20 pounds to fall  20.0 meters in a vacuum

t = 0
g = 0
d = 0
false = True
while false:
    t = t + 0.1
    d = 9.8 / 2 * (t**2)
    if d >= height:
        false = False
    #print(d) # if you want to print the distance every time it calculates it. Too long to output to a terminal, but this could be useful to display graphically. 
    #print(t)

print(t)
print(d)

2.1000000000000005
21.609000000000012

Simulation 2:

This simulation is made in order to simulate movement on a 2d plane vs a 3d plane.
How it works: we have multiple variables, if statements and equations under a while command in order to randomy generate steps on a 2d plane. Once it reaches the set destination, it will say that the man made it home after x amount of steps.
For the 3D plane, it takes a lot longer due to how big and open the 3d environment is, so there are more if statements in the 3d plane

(explain further)

import random

x = 0
y = 0
nights = 0
turn = 0
stopped = 0
turns = []

while (nights < 100):
    step = random.randrange(4)
    if step == 0:
        x = x+1
    if step == 1:
        x = x-1
    if step == 2:
        y = y+1
    if step == 3:
        y = y-1

    turn = turn + 1

    if x == 0 and y == 0:
        nights = nights + 1
        print("The Man Has Made It Home After ", turn, "Turns")
        turns.append(turn)
        turn = 0
    if turn/1000 % 1000 == 0 and x + y != 0:
        print("(", x,y, ")")
    if (turn > 10000000):
        stopped = stopped + 1
        turn = 0
        x = 0
        y = 0
        nights = nights + 1
        print("Caped")

average = sum(turns) / len(turns)
print("Average", average, "Ones that when't too long ", stopped)

import random
x = 0
y = 0
z = 0
nights = 0
turn = 0
stopped = 0
turns = []

while (nights < 100):
    #rando movement
    step = random.randrange(6)
    if step == 0:
        x = x+1
    if step == 1:
        x = x-1
    if step == 2:
        y = y+1
    if step == 3:
        y = y-1
    if step == 4:
        z = z+1
    if step == 5:
        z = z-1
    #Turn counter
    turn = turn + 1
    #Goal check
    if x == 0 and y == 0 and z == 0:
        nights = nights + 1
        print("The Bird Has Made It Home After ", turn, "Turns")
        turns.append(turn)
        turn = 0
    if turn/1000 % 1000 == 0 and x + y + z != 0:
        print("(", x,y, ") ","| ", z)
    #Too long Stoper
    if (turn > 10000000):
        stopped = stopped + 1
        turn = 0
        x = 0
        y = 0
        z = 0
        nights = nights + 1
        print("Caped")

average = sum(turns) / len(turns)
print("Average", average,"Ones that when't too long ", stopped)

Simulations in the wild

Simulations are used extremely frequently in real life applications. One of the most common examples of simulations are video games. A games physics engine can accurately simulate objects colliding

Another example is Blender, the software used in 3d animations class, here at Del Norte. Blender is made up of many small simulations, but one big one it uses is simulating the way light bounces off of and interacts with objects.

HW !!!

Create a simulation. It can be anything, just has to simulate something.

Some ideas:

Two objects colliding
Gravity on other planets

AND

Find an example of a simulation in a software/game you use, screenshot, and explain how it is a simulation

My simulation

# This is my simulation
# It simulates an n-sided dice being rolled and outputs what was rolled

import random

def roll_dice(n):
  return random.randint(1, n)

sides = float(input("How many sides would you like the dice to have?"))

print("You rolled a(n)", roll_dice(sides))

# For the output below, I set sides = 8

You rolled a(n) 8

Example of a simulation

This is 3dtuner.com

It's a car simulation that lets you modify any car in their system. There are vast options for modification such as the car's body, interior, exhaust, engine parts, etc...

I enjoy using it because I like cars a lot.

This is a simulation because it shows the user a theoretical output based on options that the user chooses