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MITx: Computational Thinking for Modeling and Simulation

Develop the thought processes involved in formulating a problem so a computer can effectively carry out the solution.  In particular, this course emphasizes use of computers for modeling physical systems and predicting their behavior.
Computational Thinking for Modeling and Simulation
9 weeks
3–5 hours per week
Instructor-paced
Instructor-led on a course schedule
This course is archived
Computational Thinking for Modeling and Simulation

About this course

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Computational thinking is becoming widely recognized as a skill necessary for every educated person in a technologically advanced society. 

We will focus on just a subset of computational thinking which concerns creating models of the physical world – something that engineers frequently need to do.  Because of that choice, this course covers many topics normally viewed as within the domain of mathematics such as algebra and calculus, but the solution procedures are algorithmic rather than symbolic.

The major themes of the course are:
  • Representation -- How do you encode information about the world in a computer?  How do your choices in representation affect the ease with which you can solve problems?
  • Decomposition -- How do you break a large and diverse problem into many simpler parts?
  • Discretization -- How do you break up space and time into a large number of relatively small pieces?  What are the alternative ways of doing this?  What are the consequences of discretization procedures for accuracy and speed?
  • Verification -- How do you build confidence in the results of a model?

At a glance

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated skills:Computational Thinking, Forecasting, Calculus, Discretization, Algebra

What you'll learn

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By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  • Select and implement methods for interpolation and understand their consequences for convergence of model results as discretization is refined.
  • Carry out a few simple methods for numerical integration
  • Implement procedures for numerical differentiation
  • Write programs to solve systems of equations, both linear and non-linear

Syllabus

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What is Computational Thinking? (representation, discretization, error, decomposition, verification)

Interpolation (building simple surrogates for more complex functions)

Integration (processes for numerical quadrature)

Randomness (generating and using pseudorandom variables in models)

Differentiation (numerical derivatives)

Solving equations (Gaussian elimination for linear systems, Newton-Raphson for non-linear systems)

Frequently Asked Questions

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Q: Is computational thinking about thinking like a computer does? 
A: No.  It’s about using computers to expand your own thinking.

Who can take this course?

Unfortunately, learners residing in one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. While edX has sought licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer our courses to learners in these countries and regions, the licenses we have received are not broad enough to allow us to offer this course in all locations. edX truly regrets that U.S. sanctions prevent us from offering all of our courses to everyone, no matter where they live.

Ways to take this course

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Certificate

Free

Price

$49 USD

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Access to course materials

Unlimited

Limited

World-class institutions and universities

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Shareable certificate upon completion

Graded assignments and exams

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