What Monte Carlo simulation is, across finance, physics, and engineering (opens in new tab)

Monte Carlo simulation is one of those ideas that, once you see it, you notice everywhere: finance, physics, engineering, statistics, graphics. The idea is almost suspiciously simple, use randomness to answer a question that is hard to solve directly, and it is worth understanding because it unifies so many fields. The core idea When a problem is too messy to solve with a formula, you can often answer it by simulating it many times with random inputs and averaging the results. The law of larg...