Algodoo

That's a nice improvement you did there. I'm also impressed that you're able to simplify my complex equation for fAngle and _forecast which is now renamed as fPos

I'm even more impressed that your version of these equations have more precise predictions! If compared, my forecasting equation usually struggles in precision when I increased its forecast time ( 0.3 seconds to 0.5 seconds ). But your forecasting equation managed to predict up to 2 whole seconds!

Anyways, I noticed that you're also trying to forecast the object's velocity, so I decided to check the "frame" 's velocity out of curiosity and it suddenly crashed algodoo whenever I tried to open it (velocity window).

@faytree -- In your comment above, you use two words, "forecast" and "prediction", when describing calculating future events. I was wondering if you could explain the difference between those two words as you understand them, or can they simply be used interchangeably?

I'll explain later why I'm asking such an unusual question.

faytree,
I just noticed that my initial response is a specific solution (acceleration = [0.0,9.8]) while your approach is more general and should work in any gravity. Your approach also handles internal energy sources (thrusters). I will update this scene for a more general solution. Feel free to use anything in this scene.

P.S. So I just realized that the spawned objects on layer1 are not moving, providing a snapshot of the future position. This means that my adding velocity and angular velocity to the spawned object has no effect. Density also has no effect on the spawned object, so I removed those (3) properties. I also had tried gluing spawned objects to the background but that slowed things down big time. I have this feeling that I'm rediscovering things that you had already figured out.

And the physics forecast says is going to be cloudy, with a chance of chaos!

@Xray - I honestly don't know the difference, frankly, I used both of those words at random times so I don't sound repetitive. Besides, English isn't even my first language

@faytree -- No problem, my Algodoo friend! Here is the reason behind my question... A few years ago, I happened upon a math discussion forum at which time the subject was about the difference between a "calculation", a "forecast", and a "prediction". There are differences, although most people use those terms interchangeably. For example, when you calculate how much money you will have in your bank account on some future date, it is not a prediction if you have known and unchanging input data. If the account's interest rate doesn't change, and if the periodic amount of deposits doesn't change over the time period in question, then you can calculate how much money you will have in your account on any future date. But a prediction is more of a "hunch" or an educated guess. For example, my friend is very talented at picking money-making stocks, and his other investments almost always produce significant profits. Therefore, I predict that he will be quite wealthy within the next five years. That would be a prediction, and a forecast would produce estimated dollar amounts if you use current input data to form an estimation of future profits.

Having that in mind, I don't think that the word "prediction" is the correct word to use when referring to your (and s_noonan's) scenes. The math produces accurate results based upon known input data, and therefore is a calculation rather than a prediction. But who cares? Everyone knows what you and s_nonnan are talking about whether you use the word predict, calculate, or forecast, right? I just brought this up in case anyone reading this might care to explore this any further. Thanks!