A small dice game for the kingman formula

Abstract

There are three main factors influencing the waiting time of a single-arrival single-process system: the utilization, the fluctuation of the arrival, and the fluctuation of the process time. The influence of these is not linear, and the combination of these effects is worse than the individual sums. Different approximations exist for this relation, the most popular one being probably the Kingman equation. Now it is one thing to understand this in theory, but experiencing this in practice makes it much easier to understand and will prepare practitioners much better for its effect. This paper describes a quick and easy game to have the practitioners experience the individual and combined effects of both utilization and fluctuation.