Simulation

1. A representation of some aspect of the real world in such a manner that problem-solving is facilitated. Verbal descriptions, schematic diagrams, or simple tabular representations of reality may be considered simulations. More recently, mathematical expressions and equations have been used to capture succinctly very complex interrelationships necessary to an understanding of the operation of large enterprises and complex production and control processes. Such models can then be manipulated on computers to determine how the relationships and conditions change in response to new situations. A simulation model is therefore an abstraction from reality but hopefully close enough to the real world to permit useful observation, analysis or evaluation. A simulation or a simulation exercise is therefore an experiment performed upon a model.

2. A simulate of a given system is an object that copies the latter in some respect, such as shape or function. When artificial or conceptual, simulates are often called analogs or models of the original system. The design of a concrete simulate or material model is based on some conceptual model, sometimes a whole theory, of that system.

3. A simulation can be distinguished from a game (described separately) according to the degree of formality of the rules for translating external variables into simulation variables. The more formal the rules, the more it is a simulation rather than a game, and vice versa.