It is easy to forget how complex the world around us is. We may think we can intuitively predict what is going to happen or figure out the best way of doing things, but that is often not the case.

Here's a fun example - watch the motion of the double pendulum on the left, then try to predict where the one on the right (which is set up in an only slightly different position) will end up after the same period of time.

It is pretty much impossible to know how the system is going to behave - and this is just a simple double pendulum. Imagine how much more difficult it would be to predict more complex systems involved in the climate, the global ecosystem and humanitarian crises!

Yet that is what is what non-profits are required to do any time they take action on these issues - with limited resources, they must choose their actions carefully to maximize their impact. So predictions must be made about where their resources are required most and what the impact of the non-profit's actions will be.

As you have probably just seen with the double pendulum, computer simulations are much more reliable at making predictions than human intuition is. That is why computer simulations are used in nearly every industry, be it research and development, supply chain management or quantitative trading - simulations maximize output. 

This site is about demonstrating that the predictive power of computational methods can also be applied to work towards the betterment of the earth and humanity. 

Clicking on any of the topics below will bring you to a page where you'll find tutorials (one for experienced coders and one for newbies) on applying computational methods to the topic. Here are the outputs of some of the simulations you can learn to create:

If you're not sure what level to start at, adjust the slider below to get a suggestion or take a look at the Python coding help page.