Engineering concepts

thumb|right|In The Signal by William Powell Frith, a woman sends a signal by waving a white handkerchief.

Improvisation or improvization (often shortened to improv) is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different faculties across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines; see Applied improvisation.

Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste.

time interval between an input and a response

type of drawing used to visually communicate how something functions or is constructed

permissible limit(s) of variation in an engineered component or system

Scalability is the property of a system to handle a growing amount of work. One definition for software systems specifies that this may be done by adding resources to the system.

(of a granular material) steepest angle of descent or dip relative to the horizontal plane to which a material can be piled without slumping. At this angle, the material on the slope face is on the verge of sliding

degree of heel or leaning of vessel, typically a water-going

property of engineering systems, used in a variety of engineering disciplines, but most commonly found in analog electronics and control systems

structural feature used in automobiles and recently incorporated into railcars

Performance measure of storage drives and storage media in computers

use of a number of critical components for securing one or more functions of a system with the intention of increasing its reliability, usually in the form of a backup or fail-safe design

system divided into smaller parts that can be independently built, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other parts or between different systems

in engineering, a specific process, action or task that a technical or physical system is able to perform

response of a system to a change from an equilibrium state

Survivability is the ability to remain alive or continue to exist. The term has more specific meaning in certain contexts.

engineering concept; subset internal to a specification

thumb|Internal assembly of a Juicero Press thumb|Specifications for the WW2 Porsche-designed Maus tank|Maus tank Overengineering, or over-engineering, is the act of designing a product or providing a solution to a problem that is complicated in a way that provides no value or could have been designed to be simpler. It has been employed intentionally in situations where an exceptionally wide margin of error is desired, but is otherwise considered an error of design due to the disproportionate time and resources needed to manufacture and maintain such products, as well as the introduction of unn

Jugaad or jugaar (Hindustani: / ) is a concept of non-conventional and frugal innovation on the Indian subcontinent. It also includes innovative fixes or simple workarounds, solutions that bend the rules, or resources that can be used in such a way. It is considered creative to make existing things work and create new things with meager resources.

the creative process of creating an engineering product or solution

in engineering, a designed adjustment to nominal dimensions, in order to allow for deviation within expected tolerance

one-time cost to research, design, develop and test a new product

exterior case or enclosure used to protect an interior mechanism (considered an integral part of the equipment and necessary for its operation, as opposed to mere packaging)

Polish term for a type of ship element

version of scientific notation in which the exponent of ten reflects powers of a thousand

diameter of smallest circle a particular automobile or similar vehicle can turn along

redundancy using three systems and voting to determine the result

defect in the design of computer hardware that can cause incorrect operation

infrastructure design able to absorb damage without suffering complete failure

systems design methodology

problem or situation that occurs only at an extreme operating parameter