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GCSE - A4f - Applications Software - Modelling

Computer models are increasingly used in various industries to simulate real-life situations. Examples include visualizing new building developments, modeling population growth, animating vehicle crashes, and generating CGI for films. Models allow testing outcomes by changing inputs. Flight simulators are an example of a simulator that trains personnel by replicating the aircraft cabin and flight deck in real-time, allowing them to experience situations without risk. Simulators are useful for training expensive or dangerous tasks like nuclear power plant control room operation.

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Sreedhara Venkata Ramana Kumar
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58 views6 pages

GCSE - A4f - Applications Software - Modelling

Computer models are increasingly used in various industries to simulate real-life situations. Examples include visualizing new building developments, modeling population growth, animating vehicle crashes, and generating CGI for films. Models allow testing outcomes by changing inputs. Flight simulators are an example of a simulator that trains personnel by replicating the aircraft cabin and flight deck in real-time, allowing them to experience situations without risk. Simulators are useful for training expensive or dangerous tasks like nuclear power plant control room operation.

Uploaded by

Sreedhara Venkata Ramana Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

GCSE Section A Tools, Techniques and Systems

www.ict-teacher.com

<Type your name in here>

APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE
Modelling
Computer models are being increasingly being used in industry, commerce, economics,
scientific research, and entertainment. In fact, the line between reality and some computer
models has now become very blurred and it is difficult to see where one ends and the
other begins.
Examples of computer models include:

The visual effects of new building developments.


A spreadsheet and chart that models the effect of changes in birth rate and death
rate on a countrys population.

An animation showing the effects of a vehicle crash from different perspectives.

CGI used in a film.

A flight simulator.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it gives and idea of the nature and range of
computer models and modelling in use today.
The following is an example of a computer model of a city. The first image shows Bath in
its present form:

This is an early version of the model. It shows the shapes of the buildings and their
locations but it has not yet been given details such as colour and texture.

This image is from a later version of the


model. Colour has been added to the
model and details such as windows and
shadows are also now evident.

APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE - Page 1

GCSE Section A Tools, Techniques and Systems

www.ict-teacher.com

This image shows a proposed shopping


development. The model allows the
viewer to see the impact of this
development from many different angles,
not just from above. The can even go
down to ground level to see what it will
look like from normal eye-level.

This image shows one of the streets in


Bath from normal eye-level. Such images
can be very useful to architects,
planners, developers, builders, and
potential users.

The following images are from a computer model of the new school building:

Such images help the potential users


the School Governors, staff, pupils, and
parents to see what the buildings will
look like when they are completed.
They also help the planning authority see
if the new buildings will be in keeping
with the local environment.

A simpler computer model can be created using a spreadsheet.


Download the POPULATION GROWTH spreadsheet from the public area.

APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE - Page 2

GCSE Section A Tools, Techniques and Systems

www.ict-teacher.com

The Population figures and the


Population Graph will change if either or
both the birth rate and death rate are
changed.

This spreadsheet is a model of population growth of a country. In 2000 the population of


the country was 52 million; the birth rate was 2% and the death rate 1.5%.
Using the model find the answers to the following questions:
What is the population in 2020 if the birth rate stays the same but the death rate <Type the population
drops to 1%?
figure here>
What is the population in 2020 if the birth rate drops to 1.5% and the death rate <Type the population
drops to 1.25%?
figure here>
What is the population in 2020 if the birth rate drops to 1.5% and the death rate <Type the population
increases to 1.75%?
figure here>
Print off copies of the graphs for each of the questions you have answered and add them
to your work portfolio.
CGI is used more and more in films and computer games, and the quality is now so good
that it is sometimes impossible to tell the difference between what is real and what is
computer-generated. CGI also makes it possible to produce special effects that were
previously either impossible or very expensive to produce.
Use a search engine (like Google) and the Internet to find the answers to the following
questions:
What does the abbreviation CGI stand for?

<Type your answer here>

What was the first full-length feature film produced using


<Type the name of the film here>
nothing but CGI?
An example of a CGI that has been used in an advertisement is the transforming Citroen
car.

APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE - Page 3

GCSE Section A Tools, Techniques and Systems

www.ict-teacher.com

Some computer models are known as simulators because the simulate real-life
experiences in real-time. These are particularly useful in areas of training where it is very
expensive to use real equipment to train people on and where you want to train personnel
how to deal with a difficult or life-threatening situation without the chance of actually
causing them or other people harm.
A prime example of this is a flight simulator. The following images show the outside and
inside views of a Boeing 737 flight simulator.

The simulator is mounted on hydraulic


rams which can move the cabin around
to simulate the aircrafts movement. As a
result the trainees not only see the
effects of their actions on the instruments
in front of them and on the flat screens
that show the view outside they also
feel the effects.

APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE - Page 4

GCSE Section A Tools, Techniques and Systems

www.ict-teacher.com

Inside the simulator is an exact reproduction of the aircrafts fight deck. The instruments all
work and show realistic readings, and the outside view is generated from a computer
model of the terrain and projected onto flat screens which are situated where the pilots
windscreen windows would be.
If you have completed all the work correctly you should now know the following:

That computer models can be used to predict outcomes from varying inputs.

That computer models can be used to people plan for the future.

That computer generated graphics are being increasingly used in many areas of
entertainment.

That a simulator can be used to train personnel and to simulate events that would
otherwise be very costly and/or dangerous.

You may now print this work off and store it in your user area so that you can use it to
revise from at a later date.
Extension Task:
Personnel who work in the control rooms of <Type your answer here>
nuclear power stations are now usually
trained on simulators. Why do you think this
approach to training has been adopted?

APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE - Page 5

GCSE Section A Tools, Techniques and Systems

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