Little's Law as Viewed on Its 50th Anniversary

• Published in: Operations research Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. 536 - 549
• Main Author: Little, John D. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hanover, MD Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences 01-05-2011
• Subjects: Analysis; Anniversaries; Applied sciences; Arithmetic mean; Computer architecture; Computer science; control theory; systems; Customer services; Customers; Exact sciences and technology; Inventory control, production control. Distribution; Language processing and microprogramming; Management science; Mathematical programming; Methods; Network servers; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Operations management; Operations research; OR FORUM; Personal computers; Production management; Queuing systems; Queuing theory; Queuing theory. Traffic theory; Radio frequency identification; Social media; Software; Studies; New York; Production management; queuing theory; Operations research; operations management; Computer architecture; In-process inventory; computer engineering; Queue; Modeling; Little's Law; Mathematical programming
• ISSN: 0030-364X; 1526-5463
• DOI: 10.1287/opre.1110.0940

Fifty years ago, the author published a paper in Operations Research with the title, ``A proof for the queuing formula: L = λW" [Little, J. D. C. 1961. A proof for the queuing formula: L = λW. Oper. Res. 9(3) 383—387]. Over the years, L = λW has become widely known as "Little's Law." Basically, it is a theorem in queuing theory. It has become well known because of its theoretical and practical importance. We report key developments in both areas with the emphasis on practice. In the latter, we collect new material and search for insights on the use of Little's Law within the fields of operations management and computer architecture.