Designing Complex Systems

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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 How the Subject Matter Is Approached

e purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to a particular design method-

ology and to develop a rigorous theoretical basis for that methodology. Somewhat

similar methodologies have been proposed and developed to varying degrees of

completeness in the past, often under the general heading of “Systems Engineer-

ing,”

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but because they have lacked a solid foundation in engineering they have

not been able to provide a basis for an ongoing development to which a wide cross

section of the engineering community could contribute in a coherent manner, and

have therefore failed to ...