Advanced Computer Simulation (VS1) (U02680)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : PHY-3-VCompSim

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.

Entry Requirements

? This course is only available to part year visiting students.

? This course is a variant of the following course : U01368

? Pre-requisites : Year 2 Physics, Mathematics, including Computer Simulation or Computer Science, or equivalent. Prior Java experience is essential.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Undergraduate (School of Physics and Astronomy), (School of Physics and Astronomy, Schedule Q)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	16:10	17:00	KB

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).