Computer Science - Management Information Systems - Discussion

A technique which has had a great impact in many different fields of computational science is a technique called "Monte Carlo Simulation." This technique derives its name from the casinos in Monte Carlo - a Monte Carlo simulation uses random numbers to model some sort of a process. This technique works particularly well when the process is one where the underlying probabilities are known but the results are more difficult to determine. A great deal of the CPU time on some of the fastest computers in the world is spent performing Monte Carlo simulations because we can write down some of the fundamental laws of physics but cannot analytically solve them for problems of interest.