The Emergence of Mathematical Needs in an Industrial Center
The foremost feature in modern science and technology is the expanding role of mathematics. In industry and business the increasing complexity of problems and the ever-present search for better products and services, lead to the use of mathematical methods. Trial and error methods can not alone yield the information of the behavior of a physical system or a business procedure or an economic process necessary if improvement in design or function is to be achieved. To understand and evaluate the effects of small components on the behavior of a system, it must be considered as a single operating unit. The functional dependance of the entire system must be expressed in terms of all of the components, large and small. Thus a mathematical model emerges which is an abstraction of the quantitative and logical relationships of the system. Often, as further improvements are sought, the effect of a larger number of these smaller components need to be understood and weighed. It is thus the proper evaluation of the small effects or “second order effects” that determines progress.