6.00IntroductiontoComputerScienceandProgrammingFall.pdfVIP

MIT OpenCourseWare 6.00 Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Fall 2008 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: /terms. 6.00: Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Problem Set 12: Simulating Virus Population Dynamics Handed out: Thursday, November 20, 2008 Due: Friday, December 5, 2008 Introduction In this problem set, you will design and implement a stochastic simulation of virus population dynamics. There are medications for the treatment of infection by viruses; however, viruses may become resistant to one drug, sometimes to multiple drugs due to mutations. Despite not having gone to medical school (or maybe because of this), you can still decide on a good drug treatment regimen by observing how the virus population responds to the introduction of different drugs. We have been unable to reserve a bio lab for 6.00, so you w ill have to simulate the virus population dynamics w ith Python and reach conclusions based on the simulation results. For this problem set, you should submit both your code, ps12.py, and a w riteup in pdf format, writeup.pdf (you may find this online pdf converter useful). Workload Please let us know how long you spend on each problem. We want to be careful not to overload you by giving out problems that take longer t han we anticipated. Collaboration You may work w ith other students. However, each student should w rite up and hand in his or her assignment separately. Be sure to indicate w ith w hom you have worked. For further details, please review the collaboration policy as stated in the syllabus. Getting Started Download and save this file. ps12.py: The code template for the simulation Background: Viruses, Drug Treatments, and Computational Models Viruses such as HIV and Influenza represent a significant challenge to modern medicine. One of the reasons that they are so difficult to treat is because of their ability to evolve. As you may know f