Little's law

noun

A theorem which states that the long-term average number L of customers in a stationary system is equal to the long-term average effective arrival rate λ multiplied by the average time W that a customer spends in the system.

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Meanings

noun
  1. queueing theorymathematicsA theorem which states that the long-term average number L of customers in a stationary system is equal to the long-term average effective arrival rate λ multiplied by the average time W that a customer spends in the system.

    What about determining how large our queue needs to be to handle a desired number of requests. Can Little's Law help us answer that?

    2017, Katherine Cox-Buday, Concurrency in Go […] , O'Reilly, →ISBN, page 130

Origin

The theorem was proposed by American researcher John Little (1928–2024).

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Cite this entry
APA

Little's law. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Little's%20law

MLA

“Little's law.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Little's%20law. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Little's law,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Little's%20law.

Source: Little's law on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.