A Perfect, Infinite-Precision, Game Physics in Python
summary
Builds a perfect infinite-precision engine in Python using SymPy and runs a live demo and article, producing exact collision times and symbolic velocity updates. It reproduces Newton’s Cradle and the tennis ball/basketball trick correctly, but expression sizes explode exponentially and computation becomes impractical after a handful of collisions. Key surprise: a billiards break can be non-deterministic with infinitely many valid Newtonian outcomes, so the engine works for small cases but fails to give a unique practical result.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:34Precision and reversibility
- 5:05Collision timing with numpy
- 7:18Senpai for exact collisions
- 10:50Velocity changes with Senpai
- 13:44Exact physics engine
- 15:34Newton’s Cradle demo
- 17:41Limitations of symbolic physics
- 18:48Billiards with perfect engine
- 20:20Non-determinism in collisions
- 23:30Symmetric collision outcomes
- 26:07Non-determinism discovery
- 27:53Philosophy of physics models
- 28:35Conclusion and future work
- 30:02Q&A
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