queuing theory

Mathematical tool used for studying and predicting delays in networks. Its applications include modelling human behaviour, for example, on motorways or in amusement-park queues, and optimizing the flow of goods through production lines and the flow of input data in telecommunications and computing systems.

Queuing theory analyses situations in which ‘customers’ enter a system and then wait for a particular ‘service’. Formulae bring together variables such as the number of customers in the system, the number in the queue, their arrival rate, and the time spent by customers in the system and in the queue, and can be used to weigh the cost of providing an improved service against the cost of waiting or of losing customers.