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Course

Monte Carlo Simulations in Python

IntermediateSkill Level

4.7+

Updated 04/2026

Learn to design and run your own Monte Carlo simulations using Python!

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PythonProbability & Statistics

4 hr

15 videos

52 Exercises

4,350 XP

8,387

Statement of Accomplishment

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Course Description

Simulate Outcomes with SciPy and NumPy

This practical course introduces Monte Carlo simulations and their use cases. Monte Carlo simulations are used to estimate a range of outcomes for uncertain events, and Python libraries such as SciPy and NumPy make creating your own simulations fast and easy!

Apply New Skills in a Principled Simulation

As you learn each step of creating a simulation, you’ll apply these skills by performing a principled Monte Carlo simulation on a dataset of diabetes patient outcomes and use the results of your simulation to understand how different variables impact diabetes progression.

Learn How to Assess and Improve Your Simulations

You’ll review probability distributions and understand how to choose the proper distribution for use in your simulation, and you’ll discover the importance of input correlation and model sensitivity analysis. Finally, you’ll learn to communicate your simulation findings using the popular Seaborn visualization library.

Prerequisites

Sampling in Python

1

Introduction to Monte Carlo Simulations

What are Monte Carlo simulations and when are they useful? After covering these foundational questions, you’ll learn how to perform simple simulations such as estimating the value of pi. You’ll also learn about resampling, a special type of Monte Carlo Simulation.

What is a Monte Carlo simulation?

Deterministic simulation

Stochastic nature of Monte Carlo simulation

The Law of Large Numbers

Resampling as a special type of Monte Carlo simulation

Sampling with replacement

Visualization of resampling results

Permutation practice

Leveraging Monte Carlo simulations

Understanding Monte Carlo simulations

Paired dice simulation

2

Foundations for Monte Carlo

Now that you can run your own simple simulations, you’re ready to explore real-world application of Monte Carlo simulations across various industries. Then, you’ll dive into the heart of what makes a good simulation work: sampling from the correct probability distribution. You’ll learn about probability distributions for discrete, continuous, and multivariate random variables.

The Monte Carlo process

Steps of Monte Carlo simulations

Wrong deterministic calculation

Wrong input distributions

Generating discrete random variables

Sampling from a discrete uniform distribution

Sampling from a geometric distribution

Betting between Tom and Eva

Generating continuous random variables

Changing the mean of normal distributions

Change the standard deviation of normal distributions

Two independent normal distributions

Generating multivariate random variables

Multinomial sampling

Exploring a multivariate normal distribution

Multivariate normal sampling

3

Principled Monte Carlo Simulation

Once you’re comfortable with your choice of probability distribution, you’re ready to follow a principled Monte Carlo simulation workflow using a dataset of diabetes patient characteristics and outcomes. You will explore the data, perform a simulation, and generate summary statistics to communicate your simulation results.

Explore the data

Examining tc, ldl, and hdl

Examining y, tc, and cdl

Why do we need to explore the data?

Choosing probability distributions

Try other candidate distributions

Using visualization to guess a distribution

Inputs with correlations

Comparing simulated and historical data

The relationship between correlation and covariance matrices

Summary statistics

Why do we need simulations?

Evaluating BMI outcomes

Evaluating BMI and HDL outcomes

4

Model Checking and Results Interpretation

Discover how to evaluate your Monte Carlo models and communicate the results with easy-to-read visualizations in Seaborn. Finally, use sensitivity analysis to understand how changes to model inputs will impact your results, and practice this concept by simulating how business profits are impacted by changes to sales and inflation!

Evaluating distribution choices

Intuition of probability distributions

Evaluating distribution fit for the ldl variable

Visualizing simulation results

Explore HDL and BMI results

Exploring with box plots

Sensitivity analysis

Simulation of a profit problem

Company sensitivity analysis

Sensitivity analysis using hexbin plot

Congratulations!

Monte Carlo Simulations in Python

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FAQs

What Python libraries are used for running Monte Carlo simulations in this course?

You will use SciPy and NumPy for running simulations and Seaborn for visualizing your results. The course also uses pandas for data manipulation.

What real-world dataset is used to apply simulation skills?

You will apply Monte Carlo simulations to a dataset of diabetes patient outcomes, using simulation results to understand how different variables impact diabetes progression.

Does this course cover how to choose the right probability distribution for a simulation?

Yes. You will review probability distributions and learn how to select the best distribution for your simulation, as well as understand input correlation and model sensitivity.

Is this course suitable for someone with only basic Python skills?

This is an intermediate course. You need prior knowledge of pandas, basic statistics, and sampling techniques in Python before enrolling.

What is the first simulation exercise in the course?

You start by learning to estimate the value of pi using a Monte Carlo simulation, which introduces the core concept before moving to more advanced applications like resampling.

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