Statistical and Stochastic
I was surprised to learn today that there was a difference between statistical and stochastic simulation. I quote from the latest issue of Computing in Science & Engineering:
We can divide existing approaches to uncertainty quantification into two classes: statistical and stochastic. Statistical approaches include brute-force Monte Carlo simulations (MCS), accelerated MCS (such as quasi-Monte Carlo and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods), importance-sampling techniques, variance-reduction schemes, and response surface methods. Stochastic approaches consist of direct methods (such as interval analysis, operator-based approaches, and polynomial chaos expansions) and indirect methods (such as Fokker-Plank and moment equations). This special issue of Computing & Engineering magazine is devoted to recent advances in stochastic methods.