Chapter 10 1-19

1	Create a Simulator object using the constructor without parameters and you should see the initial state of the simulation as shown in text Figure 10.2. The more numerous rectangles represent  the rabbits. Does the number of foxes change if you call the simulateOneStep() method just once?	Yes, it changed from 52 to 94.
2	Does the number of foxes change on every step? What natural processes do you think we are modelling that cause the number of foxes to increase or decrease?	Were modelling reproduction (rate), since in each step, the foxes reproduce by an amount.
3	Call the simulate() method to run the simulation continuously for for a significant number of steps, such as 50 or 100. Do the numbers of foxes and rabbits increase of decrease at similar rates?	No they don't, it seems pretty random. This is probably the purpose of such simulations as they aren't intended to be fixed, but random such as nature.
4	What changes do you notice if you run the simulation for a very long time, say 500 steps? You can use the runLongSimulation() method to do this.	All the foxes seemed to die out, this is probably due to their death rate increasing as their population was too big to support all the wolves, and there weren't enough rabits.
5	Use the reset() method to restore the starting state of the simulation, and then run it again. Is an identical simulation run this time? If not, do you see broadly similar patterns emerging anyway?	The pattern is that at some point one of the population will die out, which portrays many natural actions.
6	If you run a simulation for long enough, do all the foxes, or all the rabbits ever die off completely? If so, can you pinpoint any reasons why that might be occuring?	All the foxes will die if the rabbits die off, but the rabbits won't necessarily die if the foxes do. This is because foxes need rabbits to survive, but rabbits don't need foxes.
7	Do you feel that omitting gender as an attribute in the Rabbit class is likely to lead to an inaccurate simulation?	Yes, because if we are going to consider the breeding factor of rabbits it is highly important to consider which rabbits can breed and which can't. Since in most organisms that have gender males and females are each about 50% of the population, it is safe to conclude that it is wrong to assume 100% of rabbits can breed when only 50% actually have the ability.
8	Are there other simplifications that you feel are present in our implementation of the Rabbit class, compared with real life? Do you feel that these could have a significant impact on the accuracy of the simulation?	I believe it is wrong to allow rabbits to move just as much as wolves, as in reality, wolves are much much faster and far more skilled at hunting rabbits than what is currently presented. This can have a significant impact because were assuming rabbits can just keep running away from wolves when really they would almost all be hunted if wolves and rabbits did not have the same amount of spaces to move.
9	Experiment with the effects of altering some or all of the values of the static variables in the Rabbit class. For instance, what effect does it have on the fox and rabbit populations if the breeding probability of rabbits is much higher or lower?	If the probability is increased then the wolves likewise reproduce more, as there is enough food for them all; however, over time they will reproduce so much that they will cause the rabbit race to extinct and will all starve. On the other hand, if the breeding probability is lowered then the rabbits don't reproduce enough, and the wolves become extinct due to starvation.
10	As you did for rabbits, assess the degree to which we have simplified the model of foxes and evaluate whether you feel the simplifications are likely to lead to an inaccurate simulation.	As I mentioned earlier, I believe foxes should have a much larger span for their hunt method, as it is inaccurate to assume that wolves and rabbits have the same capability of hunting and running away. The wolf really should be far more superior in it's moving method.
11	Does increasing the maximum age for foxes lead to significantly higher numbers of foxes throughout the simulation, or is the rabbit population more likely to be reduced to zero as a result?	Both are true to some extent. While increasing the maximum age of a wolf does increase the population of wolves, it also reduces the population of rabbits, eventually to zero, and causes a decrease in wolf numbers. The amount to which one increases this value only determines how fast this procedure occurs.
12	Experiment with different combinations of settings (breeding age, maximum age, breeding probability, litter size, etc.) for foxes and rabbits. Do species always disappear completely in some configurations? Are there configurations that are stable?	All values can lead to the ending of species; it just depends on the extremities. If you increase or decrease any one value to an extremely high or low value this will eventually lead to the extinction of a race. Configurations that are stable are generally the ones that we started with, although the wolf default age is substantially higher than that of the rabbit and usually leads to the rabbits dying before the wolves.
13	Experiment with different sizes of field. (You can do this by using the second simulator constructor.) Does the size of the field effect the likelihood of the species surviving?	Yes it does, larger fields increase the likelihood of species surviving and inscrease the stability of the simulation, while small fields usually cause each of the species to die off after one runLongSimulation() method.
14	Currently a fox will eat at most one rabbit at each step. Modify the findFood() method so that rabbits in all adjacent locations are eaten at a single step. Assess the impact of this change on the results of the simulation.	Done, this simply causes the procedure to happen faster, the rabbits die faster, and consequently the wolves die of starvation. In many cases; however, a few rabbits remained alive but were simply too far from the wolves to be eaten and the wolves died off.
15	When a fox eats a large number of rabbits at a single step, there are several different possibilities as to how we can model its food level. If we add all the rabbit's food values the fox will have a very high food level, making it unlikely to die from hunger for a very long time. Alternatively, we could impose a ceiling on the fox's foodlevel. This models the effect of a predator that kills prey regardless of whether it is hungry or not. Assess the impacts of implementing this choice on the resulting simulation.	All this would change is the time for the rabbits to die off, since the wolves will still be eating more rabbits since the first model of the project, but will only be limited by a food level. In the end the rabbits will get eaten off too fast and the wolves would die of starvation.
16	Modify the populate() method of Simulator to determine whether not setting an initail random age for foxes and rabbits is catastophic.	Unsure how to modify this, but I'm assuming that not setting a random age is catastrophic as it is ignoring the fact that rabbits can only reproduce at a certain age, and would die too fast in the first few steps.
17	If an initail random age is set for rabbits but not for foxes, the rabbit population will tend to grow large, while the fox population remains very small. Once the foxes do become old enough to breed, does the simulation tend to behave again like the original version? What does this suggest about the relative sizes of the initial populations and their impact on the outcome of the simulation?	This would probably not affect the simulation much, but will provide a more stable lifestyle for the wolves, as there would be many rabbits to eat once they can breed. This suggests that the population of wolves is generally smaller than that of the rabbits, however, not setting a random age for wolves is obviously not the real case and should not be the solution to creating a more stable environment.
18	When a rabbit moves to a free location, it is placed in the updated field only if there is not already a fox at that location. What is the effect on the fox population if this constraint is removed? Is the same constraint placed upon newly born rabbits?	This effect is placed upon newly born rabbits as there is nothing declaring that it can't be. The effect on the fox population is that sometimes a rabbit will get passed a fox by moving onto the same location and will eventually cause hunting to be harder and will cause more foxes to die.
19	Could two foxes ever try to move to the same location in the updated field? If so, should an attempt be made to avoid this situation?	Yes they could, and while this should not be avoided, there should be a way for them to share the rabbits that they'd both hunt. Currently the first fox to move as the loop is executing will get all the rabbits and the second will get none. This is unrealistic, and should be dealt with.