ABSTRACT
Many systems occurring naturally in fields such as biology and sociology use feedback control to achieve homeostasis, or equilibrium conducive to existence. Because the bounds within which life can continue are small (e.g., temperature changes of a fewdegrees can eliminate populations) and the resources available are limited, it is remarkable yet not expected that most of these feedback control systems have evolved
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into optimal systems where performance objectives are achieved efficiently with a minimum of control effort. Since naturally occurring systems are optimal, it makes sense to designman-made controllers from the view point of optimality.
