It's like saying using a calculator to add up the last few months of income/expenses is a "financial simulator".
I feel many would object to "simulator" being applied to something that doesn't represent a pre-existing thing with any faithfulness, however.
But oh man it's lovely when someone is pedantic and wrong.
Sure, you could have done the same thing in a spreadsheet, but I think the UI is what differentiates a simulation from a calculator
Yes there are some common simulator features that it doesn’t have (there’s no ‘prediction’ or randomness involved) but that doesn’t mean it’s not in the category of simulation.
It helps simulate, or model, specific scenarios. Lawyering about words is unwarranted.
“All models are wrong some models are useful.” This is a very primitive model but from the comments here I can see that some people find it useful, so that’s a win.