ABSTRACT
In the Tao of warfare, calculation is foremost. Before engaging in combat first estimate the relative sagacity and stupidity of the generals, the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, the numerousness and paucity of the troops, the difficulty and ease of the terrain, and the fullness or emptiness of the provisions. If you send the army forth only after thoroughly analyzing such estimates, it will always be victorious. Sun-tzu's Art of War states: "Analyzing the enemy, taking control of victory, estimating ravines and defiles, the distant and near, is the Tao of the superior general."
