<P> Models are typically used when it is either impossible or impractical to create experimental conditions in which scientists can directly measure outcomes . Direct measurement of outcomes under controlled conditions (see Scientific method) will always be more reliable than modelled estimates of outcomes . </P> <P> Within modelling and simulation, a model is a task - driven, purposeful simplification and abstraction of a perception of reality, shaped by physical, legal, and cognitive constraints . It is task - driven, because a model is captured with a certain question or task in mind . Simplifications leave all the known and observed entities and their relation out that are not important for the task . Abstraction aggregates information that is important, but not needed in the same detail as the object of interest . Both activities, simplification and abstraction, are done purposefully . However, they are done based on a perception of reality . This perception is already a model in itself, as it comes with a physical constraint . There are also constraints on what we are able to legally observe with our current tools and methods, and cognitive constraints which limit what we are able to explain with our current theories . This model comprises the concepts, their behavior, and their relations in formal form and is often referred to as a conceptual model . In order to execute the model, it needs to be implemented as a computer simulation . This requires more choices, such as numerical approximations or the use of heuristics . Despite all these epistemological and computational constraints, simulation has been recognized as the third pillar of scientific methods: theory building, simulation, and experimentation . </P> <P> A simulation is the implementation of a model . A steady state simulation provides information about the system at a specific instant in time (usually at equilibrium, if such a state exists). A dynamic simulation provides information over time . A simulation brings a model to life and shows how a particular object or phenomenon will behave . Such a simulation can be useful for testing, analysis, or training in those cases where real - world systems or concepts can be represented by models . </P> <P> Structure is a fundamental and sometimes intangible notion covering the recognition, observation, nature, and stability of patterns and relationships of entities . From a child's verbal description of a snowflake, to the detailed scientific analysis of the properties of magnetic fields, the concept of structure is an essential foundation of nearly every mode of inquiry and discovery in science, philosophy, and art . </P>

When would a scientist be most likely to use the type of model shown in the illustration