mem·o·ry·less·ness

This link is an interesting perspective on Little’s Law, L = λW (a fundamental law in queueing theory), which turns 50 this year. (Strictly speaking, it’s the proof of the law that’s turning 50.)

According to the editors of Operations Research:

Little proves that under very general conditions, the average length of a queue, in steady state, will be equal to the arrival rate into the queue times the average wait in the queue. Remarkably, this relationship is not influenced by the arrival process distribution, the service distribution, the service order, or practically anything else. Nor does it depend on the structure of the queueing system: “Little’s Law” holds not just at the individual queue level but also at the system level.

More:  John Little’s new paper about his law - “Little’s Law as Viewed on Its 50th Anniversary”