Well,
The application of maths to war goes back further. Many know of Bletchley Park, Alan Turing and the code cracking that went on there. I've always found that morbidly fascinating after having to study Operations Research (similar sort of thing) in my misspent youth.
Some cruder things this sort of analysis was used for:
- how deep to set the depth charges, the better to puree people
- was it better to have many machine guns or fewer but powerful cannon on a Spitfire, the better to ventilate people
- how far apart to put the land mines (ghastly) the better to blow people up (or yourself, sometimes)
- what was the optimum number of ships in a convoy, the better to avoid getting sunk
- and more, sadly
On this Anzac weekend, I wish they had analysed whether it was better to shoot or talk.
To all those who did not come home...
