Constraint Theory

Chapter 1, Motivations: What is Constraint Theory and why is it important?.- Chapter 2, The Four-Fold Way: How to Perceive Complex Mathematical Models and Well-Posed Problems.- Chapter 3, General Results: From Protomath to Math to Metamath.- Chapter 4, Regular Relations: Searching for the Kernels of Constraint.- Chapter 5, Model Consistency and Computational Allowability.- Chapter 6, Discrete and Interval Relations: The Diminished Utility of Metamodels.- Chapter 7, The Logical Structure of Constraint Theory: A Compact Summary.- Chapter 8, Examples of Constraint Theory Applied to Real-World Problems.- Chapter 9, Manager and Analyst Meet Again: Gists and Schizophrenia.- Appendices.

George Friedman is a Professor of Practice in the Astronautical Engineering Department of the Viterbi School of Engineering of the University of Southern California. He has developed and taught graduate courses in systems engineering with emphasis on the management of complexity and decision science. This book is the product of one of these courses. He has had over 45 years of experience in industry, retiring from the Northrop Corporation as their Corporate Vice President of Engineering and Technology. He worked on a wide variety of aerospace programs and served as a consultant to all branches of the Department of Defense, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and Department of Energy as well as to the NATO industrial advisory group. He was a founder of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), served as its third president, was elected a fellow and is on the editorial board of INCOSE's journal, Systems Engineering. He has also been a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) since its formation from the IRE and AIEE, was elected a fellow and was the vice president for publications of the IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronics Systems.  He received the Baker Prize for the best paper published by all societies of the IEEE in 1970 -- the subject of the paper was Constraint Theory. 
Phan Phan is a Lecturer in the Astronautical Engineering Department of the Viterbi School of Engineering of the University of Southern California (USC).  He has assisted and taught graduate courses in systems engineering, systems management, lean operations and economic analysis. He has had over 36 years of technical and managerial experience in government, military and various industries, including oil & gas exploration, commercial and military aircraft, unmanned sensors, and major weapon systems. His industry assignments included Mobil Research & Development, General Dynamics, Lockheed

"The book contains many open problems and suggestions for further research. ... The book is very useful for researchers in discrete mathematics and combinatorics, applied statisticians, coding theorists and signal processors, but also for graduate students interested in these fields of mathematics." (Dean Crnkovic, zbMATH 1400.05002, 2019)