Computer Software in Science and Mathematics

Task 1. Read the following article and catch the main idea of it.

Computer Software in Science and Mathematics

Computation offers a new means of describing and investigating scientific and mathematical systems. Simulation by computer may be the only way to predict how certain complicated systems evolve.

Scientific laws give algorithms, or procedures for determining how systems behave. The computer program is a medium in which the algorithms can be expressed and applied. Physical objects and mathe­matical structures can be represented as numbers and symbols in a computer, and a program can be written to manipulate them according to the algorithms. When the computer program is executed, it causes the numbers and symbols to be modified in the way specified by the scientific laws. It thereby allows the consequences of the laws to be deduced.

Executing a computer program is much like performing an ex­periment. Unlike the physical objects in a conventional experiment, however, the objects in a computer experiment are not bound by the laws of nature. Instead they follow the laws embodied in the computer program, which can be of any consistent form. Computation thus ex­tends the realm of experimental science: it allows experiments to be performed in a hypothetical universe. Computation also extends theo­retical science. Scientific laws have conventionally been constructed in terms of a particular set of mathematical functions and constructs, and they have often been developed as much for their mathematical sim­plicity as for their capacity to model the salient features of a phenome­non. A scientific law specified by an algorithm, however, can have any consistent form. The study of many complex systems, which have re­sisted analysis by traditional mathematical methods, is consequently being made possible through computer experiments and computer models. Computation is emerging as a major new approach to the sci­ence, supplementing the long-standing methodologies of theory and experiment.

by Stephen Wolfram

Не нашли, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском: