APPLICATIONS OF PHYSICS IN COMPUTING

Chapter: Physics of Animation:

Introduction:
Animation is a technique in which animated characters are animated to look like moving
pictures. In other way, Animation is a method of photographing successive drawings,
models, or even puppets, to create an illusion of movement in a sequence. Because our
eyes can only retain an image for approx. (1/10)th of a second, when multiple images
appear in fast succession, the brain blends them into a single moving image. Animation
is the process of displaying still images in a rapid sequence to create the illusion of
movement.
The Taxonomy of Physics-Based Animation Methods
At the highest level, the field of physics-based animation and simulation can roughly be
subdivided into two large groups:
1. Kinematics is the study of motion without consideration of mass or forces.
2. Dynamics is the study of motion taking mass and forces into consideration.
Kinematics and dynamics come in two flavors or subgroups:
1. Inverse is the study of motion knowing the starting and ending points.
2. Forward is the study of motion solely given the starting point
Frames
A frame is a single image in a sequence of pictures. A frame contains the image to be
displayed at a unique time in the animation. In general, one second of a video is
comprised of 24 or 30 frames per second also known as FPS. The frame is a combination
of the image and the time of the image when exposed to the view. An extract of frames
in a row makes the animation.
Frames per Second
Animation shot on film and projected is played at 24 frames per second. Animation for
television in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australia is played at 25 frames per
second.
An animated film with 25 frames per second is played on television at 24 frames per
second would result in a black bar rolling up the screen. Then Digital Converts are to be
used to transfer one speed of film to another speed of video. The most important thing to
find out when animating something is what speed the animation will be played back at.
Eg: The bouncing ball animation (below) consists of these six frames, repeated
indefinitely.

Size and Scale

The size and scale of characters often play a central role in a story’s plot. What would
Superman be without his height and bulging biceps? Some characters, like the Incredible
Hulk, are even named after their body types.
We often equate large characters with weight and strength, and smaller characters with
agility and speed. There is a reason for this. In real life, larger people and animals do
have a larger capacity for strength, while smaller critters can move and maneuver faster
than their large counterparts. When designing characters, you can run into different
situations having to do with size and scale, such as:
1. Human or animal-based characters that are much larger than we see in our everyday
experience. Superheroes, Greek gods, monsters,
2. Human or animal-based characters that are much smaller than we are accustomed to,
such as fairies and elves.
3. Characters that need to be noticeably larger, smaller, older, heavier, lighter, or more
energetic than other characters.
4. Characters that are child versions of older characters. An example would be an
animation featuring a mother cat and her kittens. If the kittens are created and animated
with the same proportions and timing as the mother cat, they won’t look like kittens; they’ll
just look like very small adult cats.

Examples of size and scale animation characters: (super heroes, fairies and
elves)

Proportion and Scale

Creating a larger or smaller character is not just a matter of scaling everything about the
character uniformly.
To understand this, let’s look at a simple cube. When you scale a cube, its volume
changes much more dramatically than its surface area. Let us say each edge of the cube
is 1 unit length. The area of one side of the cube is 1 square unit, and the volume of the
cube is 1 cubed unit. If you double the size of the cube along each dimension, its height
increases by 2 times, the surface area increases by 4 times, and its volume increases by
8 times. While the area increases by squares as you scale the object, the volume changes
by cubes.
Weight and strength
Body weight is proportional to volume. The abilities of your muscles and bones, however,
increase by area because their abilities depend more on cross-sectional area than
volume. To increase a muscle or bone’s strength, you need to increase its cross- sectional
area. To double a muscle’s strength, for example, you would multiply its width by √2. To
triple the strength, multiply the width by √3. Since strength increases by squares and
weight increases by cubes, the proportion of a character’s weight that it can lift does not
scale proportionally to its size.
Let us look at an example of a somewhat average human man. At 6 feet tall, he weighs
180 pounds and can lift 90 pounds. In other words, he can lift half his body weight. If you
scale up the body size by a factor of 2, the weight increases by a factor of 8. Such a
character could then lift more weight. But since he weighs more than 8 times more than
he did before, he cannot lift his arms and legs as easily as a normal man. Such a giant
gains strength, but loses agility.
Difference between Size and Scale Animations
Size animation changes the real size of the object, while scale animation applies a scale
transform to the given object. If you have a rectangle, for example, it is defined by its
coordinates, width, and height.

Motion and Timing in animations

Introduction to Motion:
Motion is an essential component in games and animations. The motion is governed by
the newton’s laws and kinematic equations. When animating a scene, there are several
types of motion to consider. These are the most common types of motion:
1. Linear
2. Parabolic
3. Circular
4. Wave
Motion and timing go hand in hand in animation.
Motion line and paths:

Motion paths let you animate objects moving along curves and complex shapes.
Similarly to lines drawn with the pen tool, you define motion paths by setting anchor points
which are then connected by straight or curved lines.

Individual drawings or poses have a line of action, which indicates the visual flow of action
at that single image. Motion has a path of action, which indicates the path along which
the object or character moves. The path of action refers to the object’s motion in space.
While it can help show timing, its primary function is to see the direction and path of the
motion, and not necessarily its timing.

What is timing in animations?

Timing animation refers to how long an action takes from beginning to end. The
functions of timing are to create movement that obeys the laws of physics, and to add
interest to your animations. Timing can be implemented by applying weight, scaling
properties, and emotion. In other way, the timing is the choice of when something should
be done; the regulation of occurrence and pace to achieve a desired effect. Animators
have the ability to move forward and backward in time to place objects when and where
they are to be.
Timing has a huge role to play in how your animation will look like. If your timing is really
fast or slow, too linear or too long, chances are your animation will end up looking
unrealistic. In the entertainment industry now, films are played at 24 frames per second
(FPS). This means that for an object that is in motion from point A to another point B at
24 FPS, it will take one second to complete the journey.
How to Implement Timing into an Animation
There are three implementations applied to timing an action:

1. Weight: Two objects can appear to be different weights by manipulating their timing.

2. Scaling Properties: Larger or heavier objects move slower while lighter or smaller
objects move faster.

3. Emotion: The varying speed of a character’s movements indicate lethargy or

excitement and nervousness or relaxation.

Uses of Timing in Animation

In animation, timing is used to show three things, these are weight, scaling properties,
and the emotions of a character. The weight of different objects can be shown by altering
their timings. On the other hand, the scaling properties of objects can be shown by how
fast or slow they move. E.g., heavier objects will move slower on-screen, and lighter
objects will move faster. Lastly, emotion can be displayed by the speed at which a
character’s movements take place. An excited character will move faster whereas a
character that is lazy or sad will tend to move slower. The speed at which the characters
move will also decide how well the audience interprets and understands the action. These
actions are decided by timing directors, who are experts in deciding how long it will take
for a certain action to take place on the screen.

Timing Tools

In animation, timing of action consists of placing objects or characters in particular

locations at specific frames to give the illusion of motion. Animators work with very small
intervals of time; most motion sequences can be measured in seconds or fractions of
seconds. Frame intervals between keys are usually smaller than one second.
Linear Motion Timing

Linear motion refers to motion in a straight line, always in the same direction. An object
moving with linear motion might speed up or slow down as it follows a linear path. A heavy
ball rolling on a table or incline is an example of linear motion. The all is rotating, but its
center of gravity follows a linear path. A heavy ball rolling on a table or incline is an
example of linear motion. The ball is rotating, but its center of gravity follows a linear path.

Linear Motion Uniform Motion

Uniform Motion Timing

When uniform motion occurs, the net force on the object is zero. Net force is the total of
all forces added up. There might be several forces acting on the object, but when both
the magnitude and direction of the forces are added up, they add up to zero. Uniform
motion is the easiest to animate because the distance the object travels between frames
is always the same. Uniform motion is a type of linear motion with constant speed and no
acceleration or deceleration. The object moves the same distance between consecutive
frames. The longer the distance between frames, the higher the speed.
Slow in and Slow out

When motion is accelerating or decelerating, we refer to this type of motion as a slow in

or slow out. This type of motion is sometimes called ease in or ease out. In this book, we
use the hyphenated forms slow-in and slow-out for easier understanding.
1. Slow in, ease in—the object is slowing down, often in preparation for stopping.
2. Slow out, ease out—the object is speeding up, often from a still position.
The term slow out can be confusing, since it essentially means “speed up.” one can think
of slow out as the same as ease out, as in easing out of a still position and speeding up
to full speed.
For example, a ball rolling down an incline or dropping straight down is slowing out, as it
goes from a still position or slow speed to a fast speed. A ball rolling up an incline is
slowing in.

Acceleration Timing
Timing for acceleration can be calculated very accurately when the net force being
exerted is constant. Let’s take a look at the forces and how they can be used to calculate
the animation’s timing.
Constant Forces
A constant force is a force that doesn’t vary over time. Examples of constant forces
include:
1. Gravity pulling an object to the ground
2. Friction bringing an object to a stop

Constant force and Acceleration

Constant forces result in constant acceleration. Because the acceleration is constant, we

can figure out the timing for such sequences using a few principles of physics.

The resulting acceleration depends on the direction of the force and motion, if there is
any motion at all to begin with.
1. When constant net force is applied to an unmoving object, the result is
acceleration.
2. When constant net force is applied to a moving object in the same direction as the
motion, the result is acceleration.
3. When constant net force is applied in the direction opposite the existing motion, the
result is deceleration. (Acceleration in the opposite direction).

Forces Exerted by Characters

Forces exerted by people’s bodies are rarely constant throughout an entire motion. For
the purposes of animation, however, one can break the character motion into short time
segments and consider each of these segments to be responding to constant net force.
This will make it easier for one to calculate the timing for each individual segment.
As an example, let’s look at the push for a jump. The force a character exerts during the
push is somewhat constant, and the timing is very short (less than half a second). In such
a case the timing for a constant force is an excellent starting point, and in most cases will
do the job as is. A character walking and pushing a rock is not exerting a constant force
throughout the entire sequence, but during each short part of the walk cycle the net force
could be considered to be a different constant value.
The Odd Rule
When acceleration is constant, one can use the Odd Rule to time the frames. With this
method, one calculate the distance the object moves between frames using a simple
pattern of odd numbers. Between consecutive frames, the distance the object moves is
a multiple of an odd number. For acceleration, the distance between frames increases by
multiples of 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.
For deceleration, the multiples start at a higher odd number and decrease, for example
7, 5, 3, 1.

The Odd Rule is a multiplying system based on the smallest distance traveled between
two frames in the sequence. For a slow-out, this is the distance between the first two
frames; for a slow-in, it’s the distance between the last two frames. This distance, the
base distance, is used in all Odd Rule calculations.
Odd Rule Multipliers

The Odd Rule in its simplest form, as described above, is just one way to use it. For
example, one can instead calculate the distance from the first frame to the current frame
and use these distances to place the object on specific frames.
calculating the distance for a large number of frames and a chart like this isn’t practical,
one can figure out the odd
number multiplier for consecutive frames with this formula:
Odd number multiplier for consecutive frames = ((frame # – 1) * 2) – 1
In the charts above, note that the distances in the last column are squared numbers: 4 =
22, 9 = 32, 16 = 42, and so on. One of the benefits of the Odd Rule is one can calculate
the total distance traveled from the start point to the current frame with the following
formula:
Multiplier for distance from first frame to current frame = (current frame # – 1)2

When setting the keys, one can use either the consecutive key multipliers or total distance
multipliers but need to choose the one that’s easiest to use for the animated sequence.
Odd Rule Scenarios
Here are a few different scenarios for calculating the distance an object travels between
keys in a slow-in or slow-out.
Base Distance Known Speeding up
If the object is speeding up, the first frame distance is the base distance. If one knows the
base distance, figuring out the distance the object travels at each frame is pretty
straightforward. Just multiply the base distance by 3, 5, 7, etc. to get the distances
between consecutive frames, or use squares to multiply the base distance to get the total
distance traveled on each frame.
Base Distance Known Slowing Down
Suppose one wants an object to slow down, and one knows the distance between the
last two frames before it stops. For slow-ins, the base distance is the distance between
the last two frames. The solution is to work backward, as if the object were speeding up
in the opposite direction. Working backward, multiply the base distance by 3, 5, 7, etc. to
get the distances between each previous frame in the sequence.
Total Distance and Number of Frames Known, Speeding Up
If one wants know the total distance and the total number of frames, one can find the
base distance with this formula:
Base distance = Total distance/ (Last frame number – 1)2
Suppose there is a jump push (takeoff) with constant acceleration over 5 frames, and the
total distance traveled is 0.4m.
Using the formula above, we find the base distance.
Base distance = 0.4m/ (5 – 1)2 = 0.4m/16 = 0.025m

Using the base distance, one can calculate the distances between each frame. If one
adds up the distances traveled, one Will find that they add up to exactly 0.4m.
First Key Distance Known Slowing Down
Suppose one has a moving object that one wants to slow down, and one has set the first
frame of the slow-in to give an idea of the pacing for the sequence. In this case, one can
consider that the distance the object moved between the last two frames before the slow-
in is part of the calculation—the distance between them becomes the fi rst frame distance,
and the first slow-in frame becomes the second frame in the sequence.
One feature of the Odd Rule is that the base distance is always half the difference
between any two adjacent distances.

To find the base distance, one can simply calculate:

(0.5m – 0.35m)/2 = 0.07m

To figure out how many frames are in the slow-in, divide the first distance by the base
distance to find out which odd number it corresponds to.
0.5/0.07 = 7
This means the first distance corresponds to 7 in the 7, 5, 3, 1 sequence, making the
sequence four frames long. Now it can work back the other way, multiplying the base
distance by odd numbers to get the distances for the rest of the slow-in frames.

Motion Graphs

A motion graph plots an object’s position against time. If one is using animation software,
understanding and using motion graphs is a key skill in animating anything beyond the
simplest of motions. If one is drawing the animation, drawing motion graphs before
animating can help one to visualize the motion. On a motion graph, the time goes from
left to right across the bottom of the graph, while the object’s position is plotted vertically
against the time. Each axis in 3D space (X, Y, and Z) has its own line showing the object’s
position along that axis. At the very least, one will need to understand the types of lines
in a motion graph and what they represent in terms of visible motion. One can also look
at motion graphs to get a better understanding of any difficulties one is having with the
timing or action.
Examples of Character Animation
Jumping and Walking
Jumping
A jump is an action where the character’s entire body is in the air, and both the character’s
feet leave the ground at roughly the same time. A jump action includes a takeoff, free
movement through the air, and a landing.
Parts of Jump
A jump can be divided into several distinct parts:
1. Crouch—A squatting pose taken as preparation for jumping.
2. Takeoff—Character pushes up fast and straightens legs with feet still on the
ground. The distance from the character’s center of gravity (CG) in the crouch to
the CG when the character’s feet are just about to leave the ground is called the
push height. The amount of time (or number of frames) needed for the push is
called the push time.
3. In the air—Both the character’s feet are off the ground, and the character’s center
of gravity (CG) moves in a parabolic arc as any free-falling body would. First it
reaches an apex, and then falls back to the ground at the same rate at which it
rose. The height to which the character jumps, called the jump height, is measured
from the CG at takeoff to the CG at the apex of the jump. The amount of time the
character is in the air from takeoff to apex is called the jump time. If the takeoff
pose and the landing pose are similar, then the jump height and
jump time are about the same going up as they are going down.
4. Landing—Character touches the ground and bends knees to return to a crouch.
The distance from the character’s CG when her feet hit to the ground to the point
 where the character stops crouching is called the stop height. The stop height is
not always exactly the same as the push height.
Calculating Jump Actions
When working out the timing for a jump, one will need to first decide on:
1. Jump height or jump time
2. Push height
3. Stop height
4. Horizontal distance the character will travel during the jump
5. From these factors, one can calculate the timing for the jump sequence.

Calculating Jump Timing

When planning the jump animation, the most likely scenario is that you know the jump
height, expressed in the units you are using for the animation (e.g., inch or cm).
Placement and timing for frames while the character is in the air follow the same rules as
any object thrown into the air against gravity. Using the tables in the Gravity chapter (or
an online calculator), one can figure out the jump time for each frame. Look up the amount
of time it takes an object to fall that distance due to gravity, and express the jump time in
frames based on the fps one is using.
Example:
Jump height = 1.2m
Jump time for 1.2m = 0. 5 seconds
Jump time at 30fps = 0. 5 * 30 = 15 frames
Jump Magnification

When calculating the remainder of the timing for the entire jump action, you can use a
factor called jump magnification (JM). The JM can be used to calculate the push timing
and stop timing.

The JM is the ratio of the jump height to the push height.

Since you already know the jump height and push height, you can calculate the JM. Then
you can use the JM to calculate other aspects of the jump.
Example:
Jump Height = 1m
Push Height = 0.33m
JM = Jump Height/Push Height = 3
Jump Magnification and Acceleration

Jump Magnification is in fact an exact ratio that tells one how much the character has to
accelerate against gravity to get into the air. The JM, besides being the ratio of jump-to-
push vertical height and time, is also the ratio of push-to-jump vertical acceleration.

Opposite the other ratios: while a longer jump time means a shorter push time, a higher
jump acceleration means a much, much higher push acceleration. Knowing about this
can help you make more informed decisions about your push timing.

To see how this works, let’s look at the formula for JM and relate it to acceleration:

Jump Time Jump Height

The magnitude of jump acceleration is always equal to gravitational acceleration, with

deceleration as the character rises and acceleration as it falls.
Your landing speed is the same as the velocity of any falling object, which you can easily
calculate from the free fall time. Since acceleration due to gravity is 10m/sec2, this means
that after one second a falling object is traveling at 10m/sec, after two seconds at
20m/sec, after three seconds at 30m/sec, and so on. Since takeoff speed is the same as
landing speed, you need to get up to that same speed when taking off for a jump. If your
landing speed is 10m/sec, then during your takeoff you need to get up to
a speed of 10m/sec in that little bit of push time.

The general formula for calculating the velocity of an accelerating object is: Velocity =
Acceleration * Time
Physics shorthand: v = a*t

Let’s relate this back to our jump. If the landing velocity is the same as the push velocity,
we know that:
v = Jump Acceleration * Jump Time
So . . .
Jump Acceleration * Jump Time = Push Acceleration * Push Time
Moving things around with a bit of algebra, we arrive at this equation:

Look, it’s the JM! And it’s equal to the ratio of the push acceleration to gravity. Increase
your jump time, and the push acceleration goes up. Decrease your push time, and the
push acceleration goes up. Distance (or in this case, jump or push height) is also related
to velocity: Distance = Average Velocity * Time
Physics shorthand:
d = vt
With some algebra, we make this into yet another formula for the average
velocity:
v = d/t
Because the average velocity is the same for both the push and jump, we can say that
d/t is the same for both jump and
push:
Jump Height/Jump Time = Push Height/Push Time
And with a little more algebra:

Push Time
The JM also gives you the ratio of the jump time to the push time.
JM = Jump Time/Push Time
Working a little algebra, we can express the equation in a way that directly calculates the
push time:
Push Time = Jump Time/JM
Example:
JM = 3
Jump Time: 15 frames
Push Time = 15/3 = 5 frames
Landing
The forces on landing are similar to takeoff. If the landing has faster timing, the forces will
be larger than for a longer timing.
Stop Time
The stop height is often a bit larger than the push height, but the timing ofthe push and
stop are the same in the sense that the CG moves the same distance per frame in the
push and stop. If the stop height is larger than the push height, you’ll just need more
frames for the stop than the push.
Push Height/Push Frames = Stop Height/Stop Frames
This can also be expressed as:
Push Height/Push Time = Stop Distance/Stop Time
You can also flip everything over and express it as:
Push Time/Push Height = Stop Time/Stop Distance
Using algebra, we can get the following equation for stop time:
Stop Time = (Push Time * Stop Distance)/Push Height
Example:
Push Time: 5 frames
Push Height: 0.4m
Stop Height: 0.5m
Stop Time = (5 * 0.5) / 0.4 = 6 frames

Walking
Walks feature all the basics of mechanics while including personality. The ability to
animate walk cycles is one of the
most important skills a character animator needs to master.
Strides and Steps
A step is one step with one foot. A stride is two steps, one with each foot. Stride length is
the distance the character travels in a stride, measured from the same part of the foot.
Step and stride length indicate lengthwise spacing for the feet during a walk. Gait is the
timing of the motion for each foot, including how long each foot is on the ground or in the
air.
During a walk, the number of feet the character has on the ground changes from one foot
(single support) to two feet (double support) and then back to one foot. You can plot the
time each foot is on the ground to see the single and double support times over time. A
normal walking gait ranges from 1/ 3 to 2/3 of a second per step, with 1/2 second being
average.

Walk Timing
Walking is sometimes called “controlled falling.” Right after you move past the passing
position, your body’s center of gravity is no longer over your base of support, and you
begin to tip. Your passing leg moves forward to stop the fall, creating your next step. Then
the cycle begins again. The horizontal timing for between the four walk poses is not
uniform. The CG slows in going from the contact to passing position, then slows out from
passing to contact. The CG also rises and falls, rising to the highest position during
passing and the lowest during contact. The head is in the highest position during passing.
Statistical physics for computing

Descriptive statistics explains already known data related to a particular sample or population of
a small size. Inferential statistics, however, aims to draw inferences or conclusions about a whole
population.

Poisson distribution
If the probability p is so small that the function has significant value only for very small k,
then the distribution of events can be approximated by the Poisson distribution.
Probability mass function
A discrete Radom variable X is said to have a Poisson distribution, with parameter, if it
has a probability Mass Function given by
Here k is the number of occurrences, e is Euler’s Number, ! is the factorial function. The
positive real number λ is equal to the expected vlaue of X and also to its Variance. The
Poisson distribution may be used in the design of experiments such as scattering
experiments where a small number of events are seen.

Example of probability for Poisson distributions

On a particular river, overflow floods occur once every 100 years on average. Calculate
the probability of k = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 overflow floods in a 100 year interval, assuming
the Poisson model is appropriate.
Because the average event rate is one overflow flood per 100 years, λ = 1
Modeling the Probability for Proton Decay

The experimental search for Proton Decay was undertaken because of the implications
of the Grand unification Theories. The lower bound for the lifetime is now projected to be
on the order of  =1033 Years. The probability for observing a proton decay can be
estimated from the nature of particle decay and the application of Poisson Statistics.
The number of protons N can be modeled by the decay equation

Here λ = 1/ = 10-33/ year is the probability that any given proton will decay in a year.
Since the decay constant λ is so small, the exponential can be represented by the first
two terms of the Exponential Series.

For a small sample, the observation of a proton decay is infinitesmal, but suppose we
consider the volume of protons represented by the Super Kameokande neutrino detector
in Japan. The number of protons in the detector volume is reported by Ed Kearns of
Boston University to be 7.5 x 1033protons. For one year of observation, the number of
expected proton decays is then

About 40% of the area around the detector tank is covered by photo-detector tubes, and
if we take that to be the nominal efficiency of detection, we expect about three
observations of proton decay events per year based on a 10 33year lifetime. So far, no
convincing proton decay events have been seen. Poisson statistics provides a convenient
means for assessing the implications of the absence of these observations. If we presume
that λ = 3 observed decays per year is the mean, then the Poisson distribution function
tells us that the probability for zero observations of a decay is

This low probability for a null result suggests that the proposed lifetime of 10 33 years is
too short. While this is not a realistic assessment of the probability of observations
because there are a number of possible pathways for decay, it serves to illustrate in
principle how even a non-observation can be used to refine a proposed lifetime.

Normal Distribution and Bell Curves

A bell curve is a common type of distribution for a variable, also known as the normal
distribution. The term "bell curve" originates from the fact that the graph used to depict a
Normal Distribution consists of a symmetrical bell-shaped curve.
The highest point on the curve, or the top of the bell, represents the most probable event
in a series of data (its Mean, Mode and Median in this case), while all other possible
occurrences are symmetrically distributed around the mean, creating a downward-sloping
curve on each side of the peak. The width of the bell curve is described by its Standard
Deviation. The term "bell curve" is used to describe a graphical depiction of a normal
probability distribution, whose underlying standard deviations from the mean create the
curved bell shape. A standard deviation is a measurement used to quantify the variability
of data dispersion, in a set of given values around the mean. The mean, in turn, refers to
the average of all data points in the data set or sequence and will be found at the highest
point on the bell curve.
Standard Deviations

The Standard Deviation is a measure of how spread out numbers are. 68% of values are
within 1 standard deviation of the mean. 95% of values are within 2 standard deviations
of the mean. 99.7% of values are within 3 standard deviations of the mean
Monte-Carlo Method
The Monte Carlo simulation is a mathematical technique that predicts possible outcomes
of an uncertain event. Computer programs use this method to analyze past data and
predict a range of future outcomes based on a choice of action. These methods are
a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to
obtain numerical results. The underlying concept is to use randomness to solve problems
that might be deterministic in principle. Further the Monte Carlo method is defined as a
statistical analysis based on artificially recreating a chance process with random
numbers, repeating the chance process many times, and directly estimating the values
of important parameters.
Monte Carlo methods vary, but tend to follow a particular pattern:
1. Define a domain of possible inputs
2. Generate inputs randomly from a probability distribution over the domain
3. Perform a deterministic computation on the inputs
4. Aggregate the results
Monte Carlo method applied to approximating the value of π. For example, consider a
quadrant inscribed in a unit square. Given that the ratio of their areas is π/ 4, the value of
π can be approximated using a Monte Carlo method:

1. Draw a square, then inscribe a quadrant within it

2. Uniformly scatter a given number of points over the square
3. Count the number of points inside the quadrant, i.e. having a distance from the origin
of < 1
4. The ratio of the inside-count and the total-sample-count is an estimate of the ratio of
the two areas, π/ 4.
Multiply the result by 4 to estimate π.
In this procedure the domain of inputs is the square that circumscribes the quadrant. We
generate random inputs by scattering grains over the square then perform a computation
on each input (test whether it falls within the quadrant).
Aggregating the results yields our final result, the approximation of π.
There are two important considerations:
1. If the points are not uniformly distributed, then the approximation will be poor.
2. There are many points. The approximation is generally poor if only a few points are
randomly placed in the whole square. On average, the approximation improves as more
points are placed.
Uses of Monte Carlo methods require large amounts of random numbers, and their use
benefited greatly from Pseudo random number generators, which were far quicker to use
than the tables of random numbers that had been previously used for statistical sampling.