1. PARKING LOT
Dynamic Structures are ubiquitous (ever-present). Almost all simple situations have some
dynamic behavior built in them.
Consider a parking lot. In the morning, at about 8 AM, very few cars arrive in the parking
lot. As the morning rush hour period approaches, more and more commuters arrive from
the surrounding areas, and the parking lot activity builds up.
The table below shows the number of cars from 8 AM up to 12 PM.
Cars parked in the building
Time Number of Cars Time Number of Cars
AM 8:00 4 PM 4:00 200
8:15 4 4:15 200
8:30 5 4:30 195
8:45 6 4:45 185
9:00 8 5:00 170
9:15 12 5:15 120
9:30 18 5:30 65
9:45 30 5:45 30
10:00 50 6:00 20
10:15 75 6:15 10
10:30 110 6:30 5
10:45 140 6:45 4
11:00 170 7:00 3
11:15 190 7:15 2
11:30 200 7:30 2
11:45 200 7:45 1
PM12:00 200 8:00 1
Guide Questions only:
1. What happens to the behavior of the graph over time? What behavior pattern do
you see?
2. What possible reasons could you attribute the behavior pattern to? Explain using
some logical reasoning why the graph looks the way it is? Make your explanation
is detailed and as meticulous as possible.
3. What can you say about the arrivals of the cars? Is the arrivals approaching zero?
Why?
4. What possible dynamic problem can you identify from the data?
5. Is there some better way to gather this information to make a better and relevant
analysis?
6. Do the people arrive (leave) quickly or slowly? Why do you think so?
7. Describe the behavior drawn when the parking space is emptying out.