In Unit 2 Problem Set 8 Problem 3 I was asked to give histograms that showed the average number of viruses one-hundred-fifty time steps after the introduction of a drug for various drug introduction times. This same problem asked me to justify the number of trials which were done. How do I justify the number of trials I did or compute the number of trials that I should be doing?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Because of the randomness of the virus reproduction and death, individual trials can have variable results so the results of multiple trials are averaged to reduce the variability of the data set.  When you plot the results, if the plot is 'smooth' you probably have enuff trials, if the plot is ruff or jagged then you probably don't have enough.  If you could figure out the variance in the data from the parameters that affect the population then you might be able to predict the number of trials needed to 'smooth out' the data.  I think there was an example of this (smoothness and ruffness) in one of the lectures.  Depending on your math skills, empirical testing may be the way to go.