one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the maximum and minimum displacements are dependent on various characteristics e g the properties of the earth formation further one skilled in the art will understand that a minimum curve is the maximum displacement in the positive direction whereas the maximum curve is the maximum displacement in the negative direction in fig9 the generalized bit bounce curve 900 does not exceed the maximum and minimum curves 904 906 if the bit bounce curve 900 were to exceed the curves 904 906 a design engineer may desire to eliminate or reduce the amount by which the bit bounce curve 900 exceeds the maximum and or minimum curves 904 906 in another aspect of the invention fig1 shows a set of generalized bit bounce curves 1200 for example the set of generalized bit bounce curves 1200 indicate the vertical displacement of the bit as it progresses through the earth formation the set of generalized curves 1200 begins with a first iteration 1202 of a bit drilling for several revolutions and terminates with a last iteration as the result of a desired drilling depth being achieved or the simulation being halted by a user design engineer during the first revolution of the first iteration 1202 the bit has not drilled into the earth formation 0 in however at the end of three revolutions the bit has drilled into the formation the last iteration 1204 shows that the bit has drilled more than five inches into the earth formation typically the first iteration 1202 may not be considered when applying a criterion because the bit is just beginning to drill into the earth formation if.