At first glance, this might appear to be a book on mathematics, but it is really intended for the practical engineer who wishes to gain greater control of the multidimensional mathematical models which are increasingly an important part of his environment. Another feature of the book is that it attempts to balance left- and right-brain perceptions; the author has noticed that many graph theory books are disturbingly light on actual topological pictures of their material. One thing that this book is not is a depiction of the Theory of Constraints, as defined by Eliyahu Goldratt in the 1980's. Constraint Theory was originally defined by the author in his PhD dissertation in 1967 and subsequent papers written over the following decade. It strives to employ more of a mathematical foundation to complexity than the Theory of Constraints. This merely attempts to differentiate this book from Goldratt's work, not demean his efforts. After all, the main body of work in the field of 1 Systems Engineering is still largely qualitative .
About the Author: ​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 Aeronautical Systems, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. As a registered Professional Engineer in California, he currently works as a reliability analyst with the Naval Surface Warfare Center -- Corona Division. He has also served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an Engineering Duty Officer, attaining the rank of Captain, and currently assigned to Naval Sea Systems Command. His previous Navy assignments included Office of Naval Research/Naval Research Laboratory, Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems, Naval Space & Warfare Systems Command, Mobile Mine Assembly Group, Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach and Naval Shipyard Long Beach. He received his B.S. in Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Master of Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, MBA from California State University - Fullerton, M.S. in Systems Architecture & Engineering from USC, Master of Engineering Acoustics from the Naval Postgraduate School, and Ph.D. in Industrial & Systems Engineering from USC. The topic of his doctoral dissertation was "Expanding Constraint Theory to Determine Well-Posedness of Large Mathematical Models," the main contribution to the second edition of this book.