Modelling versus Simulation

Question

I read the simulation definition from the following paper: MARTE: A Profile for RT/E Systems Modeling, Analysis —and Simulation?

Dictionaries define simulation as the act of (faithfully) imitating the appearance or character of something. In that sense, simulation tightly relates to modeling, and its accuracy is measured by the distance to the underlying models semantics

Could you please clarify the differences between modelling and simulation based on the above definition?

Answer 1

Simulation is related to modelling in the sense of a simulation is an execution of a model.

A model is an abstract representation of your system (i.e. it is not your real system). A simulation aka execution of your abstract representaion should give you some informations about the execution of your system. Of course if the model is wrong or too far from your real system, your simulation will not be accurated, it will be too far from the execution of your real system or maybe wrong.

Hoping it clarify things.

Answer 2

UPDATED 4/29/2016: Added point about simulation and association with dynamic models

Modeling is the process of analysing a system (the real-world, or sometimes even imaginary, process that you're interested in) in order to construct a model that reproduces the behavior of that system. How detailed the model is, and how much of the system and its environment is included in the model - and, therefore, its accuracy - depends upon the objectives of your study or exercise. Given different objectives, you may get a very different model.

Simulation is the process of configuring and executing a model (more typically, a dynamic model, the state of which changes over time), so that insight into the system's behavior can be obtained.

For more information, refer to my blog article on Simulation Quality Control.