Undergraduate Course: Advanced Computer Simulation (PHYS10014)
Course Outline
| School | School of Physics and Astronomy |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Undergraduate (School of Physics and Astronomy) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
https://www2.ph.ed.ac.uk/internal/coursework/wwwcoursework/csim3/ |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This is a practical course which develops the techniques of computer simulation in physics through the exploration of specific examples. It consists of an introduction to Monte Carlo integration, a study of the numerical integration of simple dynamical systems, and a look at some non-numerical computational methods for computer symbolic algebra. The course is taught through a series of two-hour supervised practical classes in the Computational Physics Laboratory. The course is continuously assessed: there is no Degree Examination. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
After completing this course students should:
1) be familiar with the properties of floating point arithmetic, rounding errors, errors due to algorithmic
approximations, basic (Euler)numerical integration methods and simple higher-order integrators (leapfrog);
2) have learnt about the principles of Monte Carlo integration, including importance sampling, simple
methods of generating pseudo random numbers for specified distributions, but not Markov Chain methods;
3) have an understanding of the techniques used to implement computer algebra systems, including the use of
recursion, linked lists, garbage collection, and markup languages such as MathML;
4) have a deeper understanding of the utility and
limitations of derived classes, interfaces, and inheritance in object-oriented programming languages (specifically Java);
5) be familiar with the use of documentation generator tools (specifically JavaDoc). |
Assessment Information
3 items of coursework, 100%
Visiting Student Variant Assessment
3 items of coursework, 100% |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | ACSim |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Anthony Kennedy
Tel: (0131 6)50 5272
Email: Tony.Kennedy@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Jillian Bainbridge
Tel: (0131 6)50 7218
Email: J.Bainbridge@ed.ac.uk |
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