Thread: How can I create a numerical simulacion for my physics problem?

I have an 3 body problem in physics and I want to create a simulation for it. I have never done anything like that (beginner to C programming) so any advice would be appreciated. I used Code Blocks so far, is it possible to do my simulation in it? Or I have to use an other program for plotting or I just simply have to use some kind of header file for this?

Thank you for your help in advance!

2D or 3D? What do you need your output as?

Here's the pseudocode for your program.

Code:

main function() 
    read in initial state (positions, masses, velocities) from a file
    while(sim_time < end_time)
    do
        calculate_forces(); 
        timestep = assess_timestep(); // when forces are great use a smaller delta-t
        update_state(timestep);  // update positions and velocities
        log_current_state();  // Append to the output, for later analysis.
        update_display(); // If you wanted to interact with the user, or just print the sim time on the screen
    end loop

Thanks for the pseudocode!
I need a 2D program. I would love to have an output like this:
Programming a simulation of the Earth orbiting the Sun
Can you recommend any programs/header files that I cansomething like this?

You might find this interesting.

It uses "ANSI Escape Sequences" to plot things on the console - or at least it does under Linux. I haven't tested it in a Windows Console.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <math.h>


static const char ansi_clear[] = "\033[3J\033[H\033[2J";
static const char ansi_goto[]  = "\033[%i;%iH";


void clear(void) {
  printf(ansi_clear);
}


void plot(int x, int y, char c) {
  printf(ansi_goto,y,x);
  putchar(c);
  putchar('\b');
  fflush(stdout);
}


int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   int i;
   clear();
   for(i=0; i < 1000; i++) {
      // Map to screen coordinates
      int pos_x = sin(i*M_PI/200)*30+40+0.5;
      int pos_y = cos(i*M_PI/200)*10+16+0.5;
      plot(pos_x, pos_y,'O');
      usleep(50000);
      plot(pos_x, pos_y,'.');
   }
}