# It is cheaper to do experiments on a simulated system than a physical system In a simulated system the cost is the time to set up the simulations and the compute time. Contrast to the fact that [[Physical experiments are expensive]]. There is a crossover point - it’s probably easier to drop something and time it in real life than to code an entire gravity engine from scratch. Looking purely at cost doesn’t capture all of the tradeoffs between simulations and physical experiments because [[Computers are not great at saying ‘huh that’s funny’]]. <!-- #stub --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/It+is+cheaper+to+do+experiments+on+a+simulated+system+than+a+physical+system) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/It+is+cheaper+to+do+experiments+on+a+simulated+system+than+a+physical+system)