Stub entry: single definition derived from the NIST trustworthy-AI glossary; sector-specific readings not yet documented — contributions welcome.
A study of a fundamental physical process by the use of one or more computer simulators. Like empirical experiments, input variables (factors) are systematically changed to assess their impact upon simulator outputs (responses). Unlike empirical experiments, the simulator responses are deterministic, and this has implications: Computer experiments can appropriately have their factors with intermediate levels and the scope, especially the number of runs, can be more ambitious. Further, modeling methods based on interpolators (especially kriging) emerge as a viable approach. Good practice is to use Latin hypercubes for computer experiments, and advanced nonparametric modeling methods such as k…
NIST AIRC, The Language of Trustworthy AI glossary (public-domain compilation), entry 'experiment', definition attributed to nist_statistics_2012