FinalExam Review Spring2006: Explain It in Your Words
Questions? Answers? Comments? Comments on Questions or Answers?
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A) The difference is that discrete event simulations are not concerned with time between events, while continuous simulations are. Use a discrete simulation when knowing what happens in between events is not nessecary. Use a continuous simulation when you are concerned with real time. You might answer the question, "How much product sits in the warehouse?" with a discrete simulation. You could answer the question, "How many blues get converted to red at each time step?" with a continuous simulation.
B) Trees allow us to modify a particular element of the animation without having to redo the entire frame. They allow us to manipulate certain elements (characters, ect.) exclusivley.
C) It is 'hard' because arrays have a static size. To insert/delete we have to copy the entire array, and that uses a lot of memory. It would be harder with a matrix because it is like an array with multiple dimensions (more arrays, more memory usage, more code to write)
(PLEASE help me complete this review!!)
That sounds pretty good to me, although I don't know that a discrete simulation really cares how much product "sits" in the warehouse. More like - when the truck takes it, then there was at least the amount that the truck needed... or something.. I don't know - it seems like You can ask a continuous simulation anything you can ask a discrete simulation, but not vice versa...
I agree – the questions are not quite right in (A). The Political Simulation could easily have been done as a continuous simulation. Mark Guzdial
Wouldn't a discrete simulation ask something more like "Is there enough product in the warehouse for me to take?"? I don't think anything in the simulation that wants product from the warehouse cares how much is there total. I think it just matters that there is enought for them to take. Discrete simulations seem to ask more yes/no questions than anything else from my understanding of them.
