General System Theory

Abstract

General system theory or, more simply, system theory is essentially a body of abstract concepts and mathematical techniques which can be applied to analysis and design of a wide variety of physical systems. This paper presents a brief exposition of some of the basic concepts of system theory and sketches its principal problems and techniques. The discussion centers on the notion of state and state-space methods. Among the problems touched upon are those of characterization and identification, optimal control and system equivalence.