A formal method for decomposing the
constraint within a
whole system into several constraints within subsets of its
variables, (i.e., of an orginality lower than the original) so that the latter fully accounts for the former. Constraint analysis thereby reveals the component
structure of an observed system. The method, developed by Ashby who stated it in set theoretical and hence qualitative terms, is now also known by the name
reconstructability analysis and stated in
probabilistic and hence quantitative terms (
see information theory ). (
Krippendorff )
