A proposal of a new diagram as an education tool for understanding queueing theory formulas

Beginners of OR studies tend to have difficulty in understanding the queueing theory. This paper proposes ‘KMK Diagram Method’ that enables students to visualize the structure of the basic queueing theories. This method illustrates queueing theory formulas in the form of geometric relations between two rectangles with the same area. The KMK Diagram for time waiting and that for number waiting are expressed as a pair of rectangles respectively. The relation between the two variables is expressed as two sets of similar rectangles, each as an element of the pair. By drawing KMK Diagrams, beginners are able to learn easily through simulating diagram transformation. It will be effective in OR education to provide the visual image of queueing by this method before conducting statistical explanations.