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MAD (Minimum Absolute Deviation): A measure of statistical error defined as the average absolute deviation between the forecast and the actual, or perhaps alternatively between the mean and the actual. Contrast this with standard deviation, which measures the average…

Lanchester equations: a pair of differential equations that describe the losses incurred by two competitors or combat forces as a function of their sizes. In discrete time, if the size of the two forces in period t are At…

Kaizen: a Japanese business philosophy meaning to seek continuous improvement. kanban: WIP inventory control system developed at Toyota. A kanban (literally “action plate” in Japanese) is analogous to a recirculating internal PO. That is, when a unit is taken from…

Jake brake: A feature of some truck engines, so that the engine, rather than the conventional brakes, can be used to slow down the truck. This saves wear on the brakes. The engine tends to be very noisy when…

IATA (International Air Transport Association): An association/cartel of most of the world’s passenger airlines for coordinating such things as fares on international flights. See http://www.iata.org. Icelandair was an early nonmember. ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission): A U.S. federal transportation regulatory agency…

Hectare: A unit of land area, originally French = 2.47 acres = 11954.8 square yards. HEPA: High Efficiency Particulate Air filter. By DOE rules, a dry, disposable filter that removes at least 99.97% of particles that are .3 micrometers in…

Gambler’s Ruin: A characterization of the fact that even if the odds are in our favor, we may still go broke when facing a bigger competitor in a situation where chance plays a role. Specifically, if at each encounter,…

Failure rate curve: A curve that plots a machine’s probability of failure in the next small interval of time, given that the machine has not yet failed. If the time to failure has an exponential distribution, then the failure…

e: The mathematical constant 2.71828182846 useful in computing continuous compounding of interest. e = limit as n goes to infinity of (1 + 1/n)n. For example, if continuous compounding is used at interest rate r per year, then after…