The University of Southern Maine (USM) Department of Mathematics and Statistics hosted Dr. Muhammad El-Taha for a Mathematics & Statistics Colloquium on March 10, 2026, in Luther Bonney Hall on the Portland campus.
Dr. El-Taha presented “Classification of Discrete-Time Queues,” examining how scheduling rules and observation times affect the mathematical analysis of queueing systems.
The presentation introduced a classification of discrete-time queues based on their scheduling rules and observation epochs. This framework was used to address an unresolved issue involving Little’s law, a fundamental relationship in queueing theory that connects the average number of items in a system, the arrival rate, and the average time spent in the system.
The talk also examined the implications of this classification for understanding the characteristics and behavior of different queueing systems.
Queueing theory has applications in operations research, telecommunications, transportation, computing, and service systems. The presentation highlighted the role of mathematical classification and analysis in understanding these systems.