This machine problem involves parallelizing a sequention program that simulates the Sharks and Minnows game. The underlying space of the simulation is taken to be a two-dimensional ocean. The input data consists of the ocean dimensions, the number of sharks and fish at the start of the simulation, the ages at which sharks and fish breed, and finally the length of time that a shark can go without eating a fish.
Time refers to the number of iterations the simulation has undergone.
If empty locations are found, the fish is moved into one of these sites at random. If no empty locations are found, the fish remains where it is. In either case, the age of the fish is incremented. In addition, if the fish has reached its breeding age and the fish has actually moved, a new fish of age 0 is placed at the old location. This means that sharks look for fish at their four neighboring positions.