Quinoa Pi: Explaining the Monte Carlo Method
Dave Hurst
18-Sep-2014
What is Monte Carlo Analysis
- a statistical method of analysis
- Wikipedia has an exhaustive description
- A simple example is calculating pi based on the random throwing of objects
- Quinoa Pi is an app built to help visualize this
Using the Quinoa Pi app
- Settings control how many grains are thrown
- Dots represent the grains thrown
Multiple throws improve the estimate
- Red Line represents the estimate (average estimated value for all throws)
- Black (dashed) Line is the true value of pi
Use the app to study convergence
- Which converges to pi faster?
– 100 throws of 1,000 grains; or
– 1 throw of 10,000 grains
