Popular Mechanics - USA (2020-09 & 2020-10)

Deep Math

Uncovering

the Hidden

Secrets of

Procedural

Generation

M

ATH E MATI CIAN S FRO M TH E C ALI FO R N IA

Institute of Technolog y have solved an age-

old problem related to “random walks,” a

mathematical process that traces a path

based on random decisions at various

junctions. If you’ve played a procedur-

ally generated video game like Minecraft

or Stardew Valley, you’ve encountered a random walk

in the form of a dungeon or terrain. Biologists use ran-

dom walks to model how animals move and behave, and

physicists use them to describe how particles behave.

In a random walk, the “walker” can move in any

direction at any point, so there’s an assumption that the CR

EA

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Y^ A

LYS

E^ M

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KE

L^ U

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G^ M

AR

CO

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TT

IGE

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IM

AG

ES

22 September/October 2020

// BY CAROLINE DELBERT //

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