SimuLab 6: Width of a Distribution

Instead of watching one walker at a time, let's watch many walkers at the same time. Bring up the ManyWalkers program. See Java Applet Page. In this program you choose the number of walkers displayed, from one walker to 250 walkers. When you press the Step button, each of these walkers takes a step randomly, either to the right or to the left. The number of walkers in each position (left or right of the origin) is shown in the bar graph at the bottom of the screen.

Q3.27: Try the display for different numbers of walkers. How do the results for 40 walkers differ from the results for 250 walkers? for 1 walker?

Q3.28: Do more walkers result in a wider spread , for the same number of steps? Do more walkers result in a smoother graph? Guess: How many walkers do you think it would take to yield a perfectly smooth graph?

Q3.29: How does the width of the spread change as the number of steps changes? Is the width after 12 steps three times the width after 4 steps?

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