MMP.8:4.1 - Name choices, circumstances and consequences

Start from the question in the work. Identify what a participant can change and what is supplied by the subject or environment. Let a denote the choice and w the circumstance. Give both their domains and meanings. A choice can be an arrangement, an input, a rule for later actions or another object the work can construct.

Use the subject relations to connect them to a result. For a deterministic model, a consequence may be written y=f(a,w). An implicit relation R(a,w,y) can retain several possible consequences. Additional unknowns can describe forces, flows, internal states or other quantities jointly constrained by the model. Acausal equations can constrain these quantities without making them free controls.

State what the question requires of the result. If it asks whether every permitted behavior meets a condition, a solver’s ability to find one favorable y does not settle it. If the work can select among the permitted consequences, represent the mechanism that gives it that choice. A.3.3.TR supplies the relevant state-change or interaction rule.