Computer Simulation As A Building Block of A Computer Experiment
In a computer simulation, a "computer" model typically replaces a traditional mathematical model. Whereas a mathematical model is traditionally solved analytically, a computer model can be solved numerically: this is what a computer simulation of a system (typically a physical system) is about. (Sometimes, an analytical solution to a mathematical model is not known. However,a computer simulation can find an approximate solution. Typically,this happens with differential equations).
In a computer experiment a computer model is used to make inferences about some underlying system. The idea is that the computer model takes the place of an experiment we cannot do: the phrase in silico experiment is also used. At the moment, for example, the debate on climate change is being informed largely from evaluations of climate simulators running on some of the largest computers in the world, which are being used to investigate the impact of a substantial increase in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. In this case, the accumulation of many simulations on different initial conditions form an experiment.
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