Reliability of a Physical System

This paper presents the general concept of the reliability of a complex physical system which consists of a number of unreliable components. Such a system may be analyzed systematically by means of algebraic and topological theory. Various properties concerning the system reliability are established. A numerical procedure for finding the necessary topological quantities is developed to facilitate computations. The optimization of the reliability of the basic system under given restricted conditions can be accomplished by the application of the theory described.