Constraint Analysis

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 )