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Reliability theory - Definition and Overview |
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Reliability theory developed apart from the mainstream of probability and statistics, and was used originally as a tool to help nineteenth century
maritime insurance and life insurance companies compute profitable rates to charge their customers.
Even today, the terms "failure rate" and "hazard rate" are often
used interchangeably.
The failure of mechanical devices such as ships, trains, cars, and so on, is similar in many ways to the life or death of biological organisms.
Statistical models appropriate for any of these topics are generically called "time-to-event" models.
Death or failure is called an "event", and the goal is to project or forecast the rate of events for a given population or probability of an event for an individual.
Computer software exists to quantify complex system reliability.
See also:
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