In the mathematical theory of probability, offered load is a concept in queuing theory. The offered load is a measure of traffic in a queue. The offered load is given by
Little's law: the arrival rate into the queue (symbolized with
λ) multiplied by the mean holding time (symbolized by
τ), equals the average amount of time spent by items in the queue. Offered load is expressed in
Erlang unit
The erlang (symbol E) is a dimensionless unit that is used in telephony as a measure of offered load or carried load on service-providing elements such as telephone circuits or telephone switching equipment. A single cord circuit has the capaci ...
s or
call-seconds per hour,
a dimensionless measure.
References
* Robert B. Cooper
Introduction to Queuing theory North Holland, 1981, Second edition. . Chapter 1, page 4.
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Queueing theory