A mathematical foundation for TRIZ methods

TRIZ methods were developed in the erstwhile Soviet Union by Genrikh Altshuller and his students. Many proponents claim that their methods make creativity an exact science, something not conceded by others. We analyze two of the most widely used TRIZ methods here—the resolution of ‘contradictions’ and idealization in the context of optimization and decision theory. We first show that the resolution of contradictions helps improve system design through providing additional design flexibility. We also show how idealization directs system configuration so as to avoid or minimize side-effects or externalities, and therefore trade-offs and risks. We illustrate these issues in the context of a tablet counting problem.