COMPUTER SIMULATION.

Computer systems simulation may be defined as a study of a system by experimentation on a computer model of the system in a manner which enables the results of the experiments to be used to make valid inferences about the system itself. This article presents some of the basic concepts of the simulation approach and discusses the primary decisions that must be made by managers and analysts in the process of conducting a simulation study. A selective survey of the existing literature demonstrates the power of this approach. In addition, extrapolations are made from some recent work to speculate about future developments in conpurer simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]