Duality and Design

Abstract

Duality is a fascinating concept that appears in a wide range of domains from philosophy to religion to physics and mathematics, including mathematical optimization. In each of these domains, duality has a particular definition, and oftentimes even several definitions withing each domain. In my layman’s mind, duality is a basic human concept, where we acknowledge that our world, real or imaginary, has at least two different ways to look at it or two different ways that it behaves, sometimes conflicting and sometimes complementary. Duality is there when we think and talk about design in JMD: computational or physical models, analysis or synthesis, simulation or experimental, industrial or academic, research or innovation, theoretical or practical, and so on. Much of our arguing often comes from the position that something is or must be either the one or the other, while it can be both.