Variance synthesis in engineering design
In a brief historical review, it is shown that although variance synthesis in engineering design is, today, an innovative concept, it is by no means new. The underlying statistical principle has been available for half a century. The engineering application was proposed forty years ago but was neglected until it was taken up in America in the 1980s. As yet, there is no known application in the UK, though it has been employed in Germany with dramatic success. (2 pages)