I’ve pushed the schelling.py program from today to the class github repo, as well as proof for Olivia that yes, Thomas Schelling’s name really does have a ‘c’ in it.

Quiz #4 contained multiple brain farts by yours truly, and so for a couple of the questions you may see your answer raised. In particular, my logical thinking failed me in numerous ways on the last problem, so I have given everyone the full 6 points for this question. I’ll explain in more detail in…

Be advised that at least one of the answers to quiz #4 is incorrect. I will fix that and make amends as soon as I can get to it. In the meantime, don’t freak out about it, and just wait patiently for a correction.

Since campus is closed tomorrow, homework #3 will be due Tuesday, March 17th at 5pm instead of tomorrow.

Due to the campus closure, office hours will be on Zoom tomorrow at the usual time. The Canvas announcements have the Zoom link, which is the same as it’s always been for this class.

Quiz #4 has been posted to Canvas. It is timed at 60 minutes, and is closed-all-the-usual-stuff. Although it is due on Wed, Mar 18th at midnight, it only covers class material up through this past week. So you can take it any time! Good luck!

The code from today’s class has been pushed to the class github repo. (sirabm.py).

I’ve decided to postpone homework #3‘s due date from Friday to Monday, March 16th. That way I can expect excellent work!

I will be holding Office Hours virtually (over Zoom) today, at the usual time (12-2pm). See the Canvas page for the Zoom link (which is the same Zoom link as always).

I’ve posted my solutions to the reading check I meant to give on Thursday (but wasn’t ready in time) to the readings tab. Check out what you missed — all two pages!! :-O

I’ve posted a couple new entries on the Readings page (click “Readings” on the menu bar above) that you will want to have completed on time. There probably won’t be a reading check on these (though I’m mulling over writing one) but you absolutely need this background information by the dates specified. So, a little…

The code from yesterday’s class has been pushed to the github repo: bol.py (using the mean-field assumption) bol_grid.py (the version with a 2d grid space)

Quiz #3 has been posted to Canvas. It contains nothing about the Agent-Based Modeling we began yesterday, and hence is completely safe for you to take now. I personally would recommend not waiting all the way to March 10th to take it, but I made that the due date in the spirit of flexibility.

Homework #3 has been posted, and is due at 5pm the Friday after spring break. It will be submitted physically (like, actual paper) not electronically. Should you work on this over spring break? Yeah, duh! (Or you don’t have to, but DO NOT procrastinate once classes resume.)

If you’d like to cash in your XP cards mid-semester, there will be one opportunity to do so: Thursday’s class (2/26). To redeem these, your XP cash must be: Stapled together with a staple, using a stapler. Have your name clearly printed on the back of the bottom-most card in the stack. Have the sum…

I’m going to see a specialist tomorrow morning about my back pain, and so might be late to my office hours. I’ll get there as soon as I can!

It’s come to my attention that there’s a bug in the answers to the Wild West problem on quiz #2. I owe everybody +2XP as a result. So fear not if you get one of the answers wrong there — you will be compensated.

FYI, I’ve finally updated the notes (see “Notes” tab on menu above) to reflect our content through today.

For anyone interested in more details about Trump’s firing of Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), after the BLS produced their monthly job report that he didn’t like, here are some sources. https://apnews.com/article/trump-jobs-firing-f00e9bf96d0110519be9bf4f3ec89195 https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/08/after-firing-bls-chief-lutnick-tells-federal-statisticians-independence-nonsense/407404/ https://fortune.com/2025/11/13/october-2025-jobs-inflation-data-release-government-shutdown/

Today’s class will feature reading check #8 (on Silver chapter 6) as scheduled. However, the reading check #9 (on Silver chapter 7) will be postponed from the originally scheduled Thu Feb. 19th until Tue Feb. 24th. This has been a public service announcement.

Quiz #2 has been posted to Canvas, and is due this Friday at midnight. It is open-book, open-notes, closed-other-humans, closed-AI, closed-Python, and timed at one hour. Good luck!

Homework #2 has been posted, and is due a week from Friday. Happy hunting!

I’ve pushed the code from class on Thursday to the git repo: lotka_volterra.py — the Lotka-Volterra (predator-prey) simulation furnace2.py — the parameter-sweep version of the furnace simulation

I’ve posted the temperature model we did in class today to the class github repo.

Unlike Tuesday’s reading check, quite a few people missed at least a question or two on yesterday’s, so you might want to take a look at the solution I just posted on the readings page. Also: next week’s checks will cover Silver chapters 4 and 5.

When I say that your dosage schedule needs to put the patient in the right range (between MEC and MTC), I mean “once the medicine has built up enough in the patient’s bloodstream.” It’s perfectly fine if their plasma concentration isn’t high enough at the start of their treatment; in fact, that will always be…

I’ve pushed these files to the class repo: aliens_vampires2.py — the version of aliens-vs.-vampires that adds a human population, and logistic growth xp_func.py — the code from today’s XP-bearing class activity

Here’s an example of a non-scientific writer using the term “exponential growth” to mean “big, strong growth.” There is nothing “exponential” about the increase in data centers, unless the rate of increase of data centers is directly proportional to how many data centers there already are. Not likely!

The next homework assignnment has been posted, and is due midnight next Wednesday (2/11). Good luck, and happy drug taking!

I have a short meeting at 10am next Tuesday (2/3), so office hours will be 10:30am-11:30am that day.

Several people have asked permission to modify the structure of the plot produced by the original wichita.py program; for instance, by changing scales, adding or removing axes, using different color/style combos for the lines, etc. Here’s the answer for this particular question, and for all future infographics you may ever create. The only important question…

Today’s drug simulation has been posted to the class repo! (See “Repo” menu link, above.) This is a “one-compartment model,” which means it models the human body as one big bucket into which all intake is instantly distributed throughout. (Drugs take zero time to “kick in.”)