5 ms·
> The Bell System standard was an extremely high Erlang number I wasn't aware of erlang the unit (measuring telephone circuit load) and at first thought this h
by vatys 4y ago
> The Bell System standard was an extremely high Erlang number
I wasn't aware of erlang the unit (measuring telephone circuit load) and at first thought this had something to do with the language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlang_(unit) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlang_(unit)
- gumby 4y agoWell, they are related in that they are both telephony related: the language was an internal Ericsson language for building fast switches and such devices. I am always surprised (though I shouldn’t be) when I see it mentioned in a non-telecom context.
- smingo 4y agoSomeone must have felt very clever when they concluded Erlang would be dimensionless. Calls per second X seconds per call = no unit. But that's wrong. Clearly the number of calls ongoing maps on to lines being used for a circuit-switched network, or datagrams in flight, or whatever. Far from dimensionless. Call_starts per second X call.seconds per call_start = calls as the unit Much more plausible, IMHO.