By Bernd Heidergott
Trains pull right into a railroad station and needs to look forward to one another earlier than leaving back in an effort to enable passengers swap trains. How do mathematicians then calculate a railroad timetable that thoroughly displays their comings and goings? One process is to exploit max-plus algebra, a framework used to version Discrete occasion platforms, that are well matched to explain the ordering and timing of occasions. this can be the 1st textbook on max-plus algebra, offering a concise and self-contained advent to the topic.
Applications of max-plus algebra abound on the earth round us. site visitors platforms, machine communique structures, construction strains, and flows in networks are all in response to discrete even structures, and therefore could be comfortably defined and analyzed through max-plus algebra.
The booklet comprises an creation and 13 chapters in 3 components. half One explores the creation of max-plus algebra and of approach descriptions established upon it. half offers with a true software, particularly the layout of timetables for railway networks. half 3 examines numerous extensions, corresponding to stochastic structures and min-max-plus platforms. The textual content is acceptable for last-year undergraduates in arithmetic, and every bankruptcy offers workouts, notes, and a reference part.