Definition:
A Quantity is an Attribute measured in terms of Capacity (*459) or Resources (*199).
A “quantity” is a Type of Attribute which we would not normally call a “Product-Value” (*125)
Concept Number: *437
English Master: Quantity
Synonyms, Variations & Acronyms: Product-Value, Resources
Detailing
Rationale: conventional thinking assumes that qualitative ideas cannot be quantified. We are trying to emphasize that there are at least two kinds of measurable Attributes: Product-Values and quantities. Quantities being the conventional variables of performance and Resources which we conventionally expect to Quantify and to Measure. See [CROSBY97] Alfred W. Crosby, The Measure of Reality. Quantification and Western Society 1250-1600, for a historical perspective of how society gradually absorbs more quantification.
Illustrations
Illustration: none
Type
[Quantity]: System Attribute Class, noun
Domain: System.Attribute.Quantity
Examples
Instances [Quantities]:
Performance Attributes: speed, Work capacity, response time, weight, space, throughput • Resource Attributes: time, money, data, space, effort.
Usage: “All System quantities can have Product-Value Attributes attached to them.
For example the Quantity Attribute “responsiveness” can also be characterized by Product-Value Attributes such as reliability, variation, measurability, and testability.
Notes
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Keyed-Icons
Keyed-Icon [Quantity, *437]: ----> (the difference from other variable Attributes like Product-Value being in the Scale definition itself; using the “quantity” definitions above).
Drawn-Icons
none
Related-Concepts
• Resources: are quantities. *187 & *199 used to specify Cost-Budgets.
• Performance (*434) Goals are a Class of Quantity.
• Savings Goals *429 are a Class of Quantity
• Workload *459 is a Class of Quantity.
• Quantity-Goal, *464 : is an umbrella Class of performance Goals which covers just about all other Goals than those we Class as Product-Values.
History-of-Concept
none
This Concept entered by Kay Dudman.