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Equation 8 · Part 1 · The Logistics Tail: Sustainment as the Binding Constraint on Organised Force

Symbol r_max

rmax⁡r_{\max}
rmax⁡r_{\max}

What this part means

rmr_max is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

Its job in the formula

rmr_max is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

The passage around this formula

Beyond rmax⁡r_{\max} the convoy arrives having eaten everything it set out with. Adding a second convoy to supply the first does not defeat the limit; it recurses, and the tonnage required grows far faster than the tonnage delivered. This is why the practical answer for two millennia was not better convoys but a different mechanism entirely: draw supplies locally, move along navigable water, or stop.

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Learn the underlying idea

A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.

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Sources cited in the article section

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