GCSE-ready- Home
- Lessons
- GCSE & IGCSE Computer Science
- Computational models and simulation
Computational models and simulation
🎬 The doodle video for this lesson is coming soon. Subscribe on YouTube to see it first.
Every computer system follows the same basic pattern, but there is more than one way to organise the processing. Computers can also model the real world.
Input, process, output
Every system takes input, processes it and produces output (often storing data too).
A supermarket till: input the barcode, process by looking up the price, output the bill.
A thermostat: input the temperature, process by comparing with the setting, output a signal to the heating.
A supermarket till: input the barcode, process by looking up the price, output the bill.
A thermostat: input the temperature, process by comparing with the setting, output a signal to the heating.
Computational models
Sequential: one instruction is carried out after another, in order.
Parallel: a task is split into parts that are processed at the same time on several processors or cores.
Multi-agent: many independent agents, each following its own rules, act and interact, for example simulating a crowd or traffic, or robots working together.
Parallel: a task is split into parts that are processed at the same time on several processors or cores.
Multi-agent: many independent agents, each following its own rules, act and interact, for example simulating a crowd or traffic, or robots working together.
Simulation and modelling
Software can model a real system using abstraction: keep the important variables and rules, leave out the rest.
Examples: weather forecasts, flight simulators, traffic planning, the spread of a disease.
Models let people test ideas safely and cheaply, but results are only as good as the model's rules and data.
Examples: weather forecasts, flight simulators, traffic planning, the spread of a disease.
Models let people test ideas safely and cheaply, but results are only as good as the model's rules and data.
Identify the input, process and output for a car's automatic headlights.
- Input: light level from a light sensor.
- Process: compare with a set level.
- Output: turn the headlights on or off.
Answer: Light sensor reading, compare with threshold, switch headlights
Systems follow input, process, output. Sequential models do one thing at a time; parallel models split work across processors; multi-agent models have many interacting agents. Simulations use abstraction to model the real world.
Check you have got it
Answer 6 quick questions with instant marking. If you get one wrong, GCSE-ready shows you why and gives you another go. It is free, and you do not need an account.