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10 Definitions Operations research, first called operational re-
search by P. M. S. Blackett (1) in Britain about 1938, has a broad
zneaning illustrated by several exaznples in this section. Briefly,
it znay be defined as the study of znan- znachine systezns that
have a purpose. In znore descriptive terzns, operations research
involves the application of physical, biological, and social
sciences in the znost quanti- tative way possible. It thus draws on
the disciplines of znedicine, psychology, and all forzns of
engineering (2). As the following historical exaznples will show,
an essential step in every 0 - R study is recognition of the
purpose of an ope ration, an organiz ation, or a systezn. This
often leads to a zneasure of znerit or a value parazneter by which
operational results can be coznpared; for exaznple, the fraction of
approaching aircraft shot down by an air-defense systezn, or annual
sales of products by an industrial con- cern, or gross national
product of a country. Predictions of such operational results, and
quanti- tative coznparisons between different systezns, require
znatheznatical znodels of each systezn and its operation. In sozne
cases--such as the accuracy of anti-aircraft fire, or the cost of
producing a znachined product, or transportation costs of
delivery--the znodel can be znatheznatically precise or
deterzninistic. More generally, operational results are
probabalistic and require a stochastic znodel.
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