RT Web Page DB /z-wcorg/ DS http://worldcat.org ID 227466123 LA English UL http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD659484 T1 AN AXIOMATIC THEORY OF GENERAL SYSTEMS A1 Windeknecht, T. G., CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV CLEVELAND OHSYSTEMS RESEARCH CENTER., PB Defense Technical Information Center PP Ft. Belvoir YR 1967 AB The paper presents a formalization of the principal concepts of the block diagram approach in systems theory using set theory. The development is axiomatic. Starting from Mesarovic's notion of a general system as an n-ary relation, (i) the concept of time is introduced (ii) multi-variable input-output systems are formalized and (iii) the evolution of such systems in time is studied both with and without the property of non-anticipation. It is demonstrated in the latter case that the concept of state naturally arises.