I pledge my honor that I have abided by the Stevens Honor System
In any given case, it's rare that there will only be one solution to a problem or set of problems. It is useful to use abstraction to fan out possible solutions that can be chosen to solve any given problem. Typically it is good practice to create models to represent different designs and use these models to approximate how a solution might operate in real life. That is to say that models should be used to gather data and create the best solution, but that they should always be taken with a grain of salt in that they are not definitive. Models are best used as guidelines that will lead you towards a good solution to a problem or sub-problem.