A few very simple definitions of common terms I learned this week

• Agent Based Modeling - A form of modeling where multiple intelligent agents interact. The goal of the model is usually to study the results of multiple independent agents interacting.

• Discrete Event Simulation - A simulation that looks at processes that can be described as a series of discrete events. For example, a point of sale in a store.

• Continuous Simulation - A simulation that looks at processes that smoothly transition from state to state. For example, a plane performing aerobatics.

• Data Farming - A set of practices that creates new useful data. This is in contrast to Data Mining where the goal is to find existing useful data.

• Monte Carlo Method - A method to determine the probability a given outcome will occur. The method is to repeat a process to create a desired outcome and record the number of times the number of success and failures.

• Independent and Identically Distributed Random Variable (IID) - A variable that can be generated over and over again without consideration of previous results. An example of this in real life would be a dice. The result of any roll of the dice is completely independent of any other roll.