Mathematics and the Defense Program

Abstract

As we are all aware, the Defense Program consists primarily of two main efforts: industrial and military. Some would add a third, the effort for political effect. But actual preparations for defense involve first, the training and organization of army, navy, and coordinate services, and second the supply of materiel and the organization of industry and industrial personnel to provide the necessary supplies for the use of the defense services. An elaborate analysis would subdivide the program into a vast number of subsidiary programs, but unless we confine ourselves to a quite general discussion of how mathematics is related to these two principal problems—industrial and military preparedness—we shall be here until late this evening, or perhaps I should say that the speaker would still be talking if he knew enough about the subject, but the audience would long since have sought the freedom of the outer air.