;Each year, the students in the Agronomy 550 course create a class project.
;Last year's class created a research article (which they are still putting
the
;finishing touches on) that will be submitted for publication.
;This year's class would like to develop a computer model for determining
the
;sustainability of a farm or farming practice. We plan to create the model
;in a
;spreadsheet, see if the formula is workable, then create a web based system
;which would query the users for input, and provide a calculated analysis.
I wish you a lot of luck. It should be a solvable problem. I have written a
lot
of models and wish I had had Excel back in the 80's. My biggest problem
was not putting my personal bias in the model. When you get past a simple
model how you compute cost, how long you amortize them and the k values
you use can have as much affect on the out come as the values you put in.
Even the random number generator you use can bias the outcome.
Another thing to watch out for is using dependant variables. When you do
this in a complex system you are in effect giving a great deal more weight
to these than you intend.
I would like to see the outcome of your work.
Gordon
Gordon Couger gcouger@couger.com
Owner PRAG-L PRactical AGriculture List www.couger.com/prag-l
Stillwater, OK 405 624-2855 GMT -6:00
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".