CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Black box - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy", "wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"6089d398-6a13-4333-a840-d70775263bbb","wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Black_box","wgTitle":"Black box","wgCurRevisionId":1258117770,"wgRevisionId":1258117770,"wgArticleId":18950050,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Webarchive template wayback links","Articles with short description","Short description matches Wikidata","Use dmy dates from November 2013","Articles to be expanded from June 2019","All articles to be expanded","Cybernetics","Systems theory","Metatheory of science","Metaphors referring to objects","Software design patterns","Programming principles"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Black_box","wgRelevantArticleId": 18950050,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":20000,"wgRelatedArticlesCompat":[],"wgCentralAuthMobileDomain":false,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q29256","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"], "GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false,"wgGEStructuredTaskRejectionReasonTextInputEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false};RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.wikimediaBadges":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","mediawiki.page.media","site","mediawiki.page.ready","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","mmv.bootstrap","ext.popups", "ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","ext.cx.uls.quick.actions","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","ext.growthExperiments.SuggestedEditSession","wikibase.sidebar.tracking"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediaBadges%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.4"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="Black box - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Black_box rootpage-Black_box skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-contents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Guides to browsing Wikipedia"><span>Contents</span></a></li><li id="n-currentevents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Articles related to current events"><span>Current events</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Visit a randomly selected article [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random article</span></a></li><li id="n-aboutsite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Learn about Wikipedia and how it works"><span>About Wikipedia</span></a></li><li id="n-contactpage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="How to contact Wikipedia"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-interaction" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-interaction" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Contribute </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-introduction" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Learn how to edit Wikipedia"><span>Learn to edit</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="The hub for editors"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard" title="Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia"><span>Upload file</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikipedia.png" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikipedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Encyclopedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-tagline-en.svg" width="117" height="13" style="width: 7.3125em; height: 0.8125em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Black+box" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Black+box" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="Log in and more options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Black+box" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Black+box" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-History" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#History"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>History</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-History-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Systems_theory" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Systems_theory"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Systems theory</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Systems_theory-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Systems theory subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Systems_theory-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Recording_of_observed_states" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Recording_of_observed_states"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Recording of observed states</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Recording_of_observed_states-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Modeling" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Modeling"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>Modeling</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Modeling-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Testing_the_black_box_model" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Testing_the_black_box_model"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3</span> <span>Testing the black box model</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Testing_the_black_box_model-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_theories" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_theories"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Other theories</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Other_theories-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Other theories subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Other_theories-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Adoption_in_humanities" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Adoption_in_humanities"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Adoption in humanities</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Adoption_in_humanities-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Black_box_theory" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Black_box_theory"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Black box theory</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Black_box_theory-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Applications" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Applications"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Applications</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Applications-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Applications subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Applications-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Computing_and_mathematics" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Computing_and_mathematics"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.1</span> <span>Computing and mathematics</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Computing_and_mathematics-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Science_and_technology" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Science_and_technology"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2</span> <span>Science and technology</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Science_and_technology-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_applications" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_applications"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3</span> <span>Other applications</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other_applications-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Black box</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 39 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-39" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">39 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B5%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%82_%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%AF_(%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9)" title="صندوق أسود (سبرانية) – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="صندوق أسود (سبرانية)" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-az mw-list-item"><a href="https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qara_qutu_(kibernetika)" title="Qara qutu (kibernetika) – Azerbaijani" lang="az" hreflang="az" data-title="Qara qutu (kibernetika)" data-language-autonym="Azərbaycanca" data-language-local-name="Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Azərbaycanca</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be mw-list-item"><a href="https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%BD%D1%8F_(%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B0)" title="Чорная скрыня (кібернетыка) – Belarusian" lang="be" hreflang="be" data-title="Чорная скрыня (кібернетыка)" data-language-autonym="Беларуская" data-language-local-name="Belarusian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Беларуская</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%8F" title="Черна кутия – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Черна кутия" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caixa_negra_(sistemes)" title="Caixa negra (sistemes) – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Caixa negra (sistemes)" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cern%C3%A1_sk%C5%99%C3%AD%C5%88ka_(kybernetika)" title="Černá skříňka (kybernetika) – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Černá skříňka (kybernetika)" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Box_(Systemtheorie)" title="Black Box (Systemtheorie) – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Black Box (Systemtheorie)" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Must_kast" title="Must kast – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Must kast" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Eesti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caja_negra_(sistemas)" title="Caja negra (sistemas) – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Caja negra (sistemas)" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigra_skatolo_(Sistemiko)" title="Nigra skatolo (Sistemiko) – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Nigra skatolo (Sistemiko)" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutxa_beltz_(sistema)" title="Kutxa beltz (sistema) – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Kutxa beltz (sistema)" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Euskara</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D8%B9%D8%A8%D9%87_%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%87_(%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87)" title="جعبه سیاه (سامانه) – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="جعبه سیاه (سامانه)" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C3%AEte_noire_(syst%C3%A8me)" title="Boîte noire (système) – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Boîte noire (système)" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ga mw-list-item"><a href="https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosca_dubh" title="Bosca dubh – Irish" lang="ga" hreflang="ga" data-title="Bosca dubh" data-language-autonym="Gaeilge" data-language-local-name="Irish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Gaeilge</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B8%94%EB%9E%99%EB%B0%95%EC%8A%A4" title="블랙박스 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="블랙박스" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modello_black_box" title="Modello black box – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Modello black box" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%A1%D7%94_%D7%A9%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94_(%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%93%D7%A1%D7%94)" title="קופסה שחורה (הנדסה) – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="קופסה שחורה (הנדסה)" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ka mw-list-item"><a href="https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A8%E1%83%90%E1%83%95%E1%83%98_%E1%83%A7%E1%83%A3%E1%83%97%E1%83%98" title="შავი ყუთი – Georgian" lang="ka" hreflang="ka" data-title="შავი ყუთი" data-language-autonym="ქართული" data-language-local-name="Georgian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ქართული</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lv mw-list-item"><a href="https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meln%C4%81_kaste" title="Melnā kaste – Latvian" lang="lv" hreflang="lv" data-title="Melnā kaste" data-language-autonym="Latviešu" data-language-local-name="Latvian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latviešu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feketedoboz_(rendszerelm%C3%A9let)" title="Feketedoboz (rendszerelmélet) – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Feketedoboz (rendszerelmélet)" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-my mw-list-item"><a href="https://my.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%80%98%E1%80%9C%E1%80%80%E1%80%BA%E1%80%98%E1%80%B1%E1%80%AC%E1%80%80%E1%80%BA%E1%80%85%E1%80%BA" title="ဘလက်ဘောက်စ် – Burmese" lang="my" hreflang="my" data-title="ဘလက်ဘောက်စ်" data-language-autonym="မြန်မာဘာသာ" data-language-local-name="Burmese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>မြန်မာဘာသာ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwarte_doos" title="Zwarte doos – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Zwarte doos" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%96%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%9C%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9" title="ブラックボックス – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="ブラックボックス" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svart_boks" title="Svart boks – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Svart boks" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czarna_skrzynka_(system)" title="Czarna skrzynka (system) – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Czarna skrzynka (system)" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caixa_preta_(teoria_dos_sistemas)" title="Caixa preta (teoria dos sistemas) – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Caixa preta (teoria dos sistemas)" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-rue mw-list-item"><a href="https://rue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0_(%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%96%D0%BA%D0%B0)" title="Чорна скринька (кібернетіка) – Rusyn" lang="rue" hreflang="rue" data-title="Чорна скринька (кібернетіка)" data-language-autonym="Русиньскый" data-language-local-name="Rusyn" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русиньскый</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D1%91%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D1%89%D0%B8%D0%BA" title="Чёрный ящик – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Чёрный ящик" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box" title="Black box – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Black box" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sk mw-list-item"><a href="https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cierna_skrinka_(v%C5%A1eobecn%C3%BD_pojem)" title="Čierna skrinka (všeobecný pojem) – Slovak" lang="sk" hreflang="sk" data-title="Čierna skrinka (všeobecný pojem)" data-language-autonym="Slovenčina" data-language-local-name="Slovak" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenčina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl mw-list-item"><a href="https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Crna_%C5%A1katla_(tehnika)" title="Črna škatla (tehnika) – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Črna škatla (tehnika)" data-language-autonym="Slovenščina" data-language-local-name="Slovenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenščina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A6%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0" title="Црна кутија – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Црна кутија" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musta_laatikko_(systeemiteoria)" title="Musta laatikko (systeemiteoria) – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Musta laatikko (systeemiteoria)" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svart_l%C3%A5da" title="Svart låda – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Svart låda" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_kutu_(sibernetik)" title="Kara kutu (sibernetik) – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Kara kutu (sibernetik)" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D1%89%D0%B8%D0%BA" title="Чорний ящик – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Чорний ящик" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%E1%BB%99p_%C4%91en" title="Hộp đen – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Hộp đen" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%91%E7%9B%92" title="黑盒 – Cantonese" lang="yue" hreflang="yue" data-title="黑盒" data-language-autonym="粵語" data-language-local-name="Cantonese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>粵語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%91%E7%AE%B1" title="黑箱 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="黑箱" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q29256#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Black_box" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Article</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Talk:Black_box" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Black_box"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Black_box"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Black_box" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Black_box" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&oldid=1258117770" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-cite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Black_box&id=1258117770&wpFormIdentifier=titleform" title="Information on how to cite this page"><span>Cite this page</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBlack_box"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBlack_box"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Black_box&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-commons mw-list-item"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Black_box" hreflang="en"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></a></li><li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q29256" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">System where only the inputs and outputs can be viewed, and not its implementation</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">This article is about the abstract concept of black box systems. For black boxes in aircraft, see <a href="/wiki/Flight_recorder" title="Flight recorder">Flight recorder</a>. For other uses, see <a href="/wiki/Black_box_(disambiguation)" class="mw-disambig" title="Black box (disambiguation)">Black box (disambiguation)</a>.</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1257001546">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme)>div:not(.notheme)[style]{background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme) div:not(.notheme){background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media(min-width:640px){body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table{display:table!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>caption{display:table-caption!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>tbody{display:table-row-group}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table tr{display:table-row!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table th,body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table td{padding-left:inherit;padding-right:inherit}}</style><table class="infobox" style="width:18em; text-align:center; font-size:95%;"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="padding-bottom:0.3em; background:transparent; line-height:1.1em; font-size:125%; font-weight:bold;"><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Black box systems</a></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Black_box_diagram.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Black_box_diagram.svg/200px-Black_box_diagram.svg.png" decoding="async" width="200" height="63" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Black_box_diagram.svg/300px-Black_box_diagram.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Black_box_diagram.svg/400px-Black_box_diagram.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="271" data-file-height="85" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#E7C6A5;">System</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="line-height:1.4em;"><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Black box</a>, <a href="/wiki/Oracle_machine" title="Oracle machine">Oracle machine</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#E7C6A5;">Methods and techniques</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="line-height:1.4em;"><a href="/wiki/Black-box_testing" title="Black-box testing">Black-box testing</a>, <a href="/wiki/Blackboxing" title="Blackboxing">Blackboxing</a> <hr /></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#E7C6A5;">Related techniques</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="line-height:1.4em;"><a href="/wiki/Feed_forward_(control)" title="Feed forward (control)">Feed forward</a>, <a href="/wiki/Obfuscation" title="Obfuscation">Obfuscation</a>, <a href="/wiki/Pattern_recognition" title="Pattern recognition">Pattern recognition</a>, <a href="/wiki/White_box_(software_engineering)" title="White box (software engineering)">White box</a>, <a href="/wiki/White-box_testing" title="White-box testing">White-box testing</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gray-box_testing" title="Gray-box testing">Gray-box testing</a>, <a href="/wiki/System_identification" title="System identification">System identification</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#E7C6A5;">Fundamentals</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="line-height:1.4em;"><a href="/wiki/A_priori_information" class="mw-redirect" title="A priori information"><i>A priori</i> information</a>, <a href="/wiki/Control_system" title="Control system">Control systems</a>, <a href="/wiki/Open_system_(systems_theory)" title="Open system (systems theory)">Open systems</a>, <a href="/wiki/Operations_research" title="Operations research">Operations research</a>, <a href="/wiki/Thermodynamic_system" title="Thermodynamic system">Thermodynamic systems</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-navbar"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Black-box" title="Template:Black-box"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Black-box" title="Template talk:Black-box"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Black-box" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Black-box"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p> In science, computing, and engineering, a <b>black box</b> is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or <a href="/wiki/Transfer_function" title="Transfer function">transfer characteristics</a>), without any knowledge of its internal workings.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The term can be used to refer to many inner workings, such as those of a <a href="/wiki/Transistor" title="Transistor">transistor</a>, an <a href="/wiki/Engine" title="Engine">engine</a>, an <a href="/wiki/Algorithm" title="Algorithm">algorithm</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Human_brain" title="Human brain">human brain</a>, or an institution or <a href="/wiki/Government" title="Government">government</a>. </p><p>To analyze an <a href="/wiki/Open_system_(systems_theory)" title="Open system (systems theory)">open system</a> with a typical "black box approach", only the behavior of the stimulus/response will be accounted for, to infer the (unknown) <i>box</i>. The usual representation of this "black box system" is a <a href="/wiki/Data_flow_diagram" class="mw-redirect" title="Data flow diagram">data flow diagram</a> centered in the box. </p><p>The opposite of a black box is a system where the inner components or logic are available for inspection, which is most commonly referred to as a <a href="/wiki/White_box_(software_engineering)" title="White box (software engineering)">white box</a> (sometimes also known as a "clear box" or a "glass box"). </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: History"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Blackbox3D-withGraphs.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Blackbox3D-withGraphs.svg/500px-Blackbox3D-withGraphs.svg.png" decoding="async" width="500" height="143" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Blackbox3D-withGraphs.svg/750px-Blackbox3D-withGraphs.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Blackbox3D-withGraphs.svg/1000px-Blackbox3D-withGraphs.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1423" data-file-height="407" /></a><figcaption>A black box model can be used to describe the outputs of systems.</figcaption></figure> <p>The modern meaning of the term "black box" seems to have entered the English language around 1945. In electronic <a href="/wiki/Circuit_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Circuit theory">circuit theory</a> the process of <a href="/wiki/Network_synthesis" title="Network synthesis">network synthesis</a> from <a href="/wiki/Transfer_function" title="Transfer function">transfer functions</a>, which led to electronic circuits being regarded as "black boxes" characterized by their response to signals applied to their <a href="/wiki/Port_(circuit_theory)" title="Port (circuit theory)">ports</a>, can be traced to <a href="/wiki/Wilhelm_Cauer" title="Wilhelm Cauer">Wilhelm Cauer</a> who published his ideas in their most developed form in 1941.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Although Cauer did not himself use the term, others who followed him certainly did describe the method as black-box analysis.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Vitold_Belevitch" title="Vitold Belevitch">Vitold Belevitch</a><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> puts the concept of black-boxes even earlier, attributing the explicit use of <a href="/wiki/Two-port_network" title="Two-port network">two-port networks</a> as black boxes to <a href="/wiki/Franz_Breisig" title="Franz Breisig">Franz Breisig</a> in 1921 and argues that 2-terminal components were implicitly treated as black-boxes before that. </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Cybernetics" title="Cybernetics">cybernetics</a>, a full treatment was given by <a href="/wiki/Ross_Ashby" class="mw-redirect" title="Ross Ashby">Ross Ashby</a> in 1956.<sup id="cite_ref-ash56_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ash56-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> A black box was described by <a href="/wiki/Norbert_Wiener" title="Norbert Wiener">Norbert Wiener</a> in 1961 as an unknown system that was to be identified using the techniques of <a href="/wiki/System_identification" title="System identification">system identification</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He saw the first step in <a href="/wiki/Self_organization#Self-organization_in_cybernetics" class="mw-redirect" title="Self organization">self-organization</a> as being to be able to copy the output behavior of a black box. Many other engineers, scientists and epistemologists, such as <a href="/wiki/Mario_Bunge" title="Mario Bunge">Mario Bunge</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-Bunge63_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bunge63-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> used and perfected the black box theory in the 1960s. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Systems_theory">Systems theory</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Systems theory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:OpenSystemRepresentation.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/OpenSystemRepresentation.svg/252px-OpenSystemRepresentation.svg.png" decoding="async" width="252" height="200" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/OpenSystemRepresentation.svg/378px-OpenSystemRepresentation.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/OpenSystemRepresentation.svg/504px-OpenSystemRepresentation.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="931" data-file-height="740" /></a><figcaption>The <i><a href="/wiki/Open_system_(systems_theory)" title="Open system (systems theory)">open systems theory</a></i> is the foundation of <i>black box theory</i>. Both have focus on input and output flows, representing exchanges with the surroundings.</figcaption></figure> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Systems_theory" title="Systems theory">systems theory</a>, the <i>black box</i> is an abstraction representing a class of concrete <a href="/wiki/Open_system_(systems_theory)" title="Open system (systems theory)">open system</a> which can be viewed solely in terms of its <i>stimuli inputs</i> and <i>output reactions</i>: </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The constitution and structure of the box are altogether irrelevant to the approach under consideration, which is purely external or phenomenological. In other words, only the behavior of the system will be accounted for.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/wiki/Mario_Bunge" title="Mario Bunge">Mario Bunge</a><sup id="cite_ref-Bunge63_8-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bunge63-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite></div></blockquote> <p>The understanding of a <i>black box</i> is based on the "explanatory principle", the <a href="/wiki/Hypothesis" title="Hypothesis">hypothesis</a> of a <a href="/wiki/Causal_relation" class="mw-redirect" title="Causal relation">causal relation</a> between the <i>input</i> and the <i>output</i>. This principle states that <i>input</i> and <i>output</i> are distinct, that the system has observable (and relatable) inputs and outputs and that the system is black to the observer (non-openable).<sup id="cite_ref-gla09_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-gla09-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Recording_of_observed_states">Recording of observed states</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Recording of observed states"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>An observer makes observations over time. All observations of inputs and outputs of a <i>black box</i> can be written in a table, in which, at each of a sequence of times, the states of the <i>box's</i> various parts, input and output, are recorded. Thus, using an example from <a href="/wiki/William_Ross_Ashby" class="mw-redirect" title="William Ross Ashby">Ashby</a>, examining a box that has fallen from a <a href="/wiki/Flying_saucer" title="Flying saucer">flying saucer</a> might lead to this protocol:<sup id="cite_ref-ash56_6-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ash56-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th>Time </th> <th>States of input and output </th></tr> <tr> <td>11:18 </td> <td>I did nothing—the Box emitted a steady hum at 240 Hz. </td></tr> <tr> <td>11:19 </td> <td>I pushed over the switch marked K: the note rose to 480 Hz and remained steady. </td></tr> <tr> <td>11:20 </td> <td>I accidentally pushed the button marked “!”—the Box increased in temperature by 20 °C. </td></tr> <tr> <td>... </td> <td>Etc. </td></tr></tbody></table><p>Thus, every system, fundamentally, is investigated by the collection of a long protocol, drawn out in time, showing the sequence of input and output states. From this there follows the fundamental deduction that all knowledge obtainable from a Black Box (of given input and output) is such as can be obtained by re-coding the protocol (the <i>observation table</i>); all that, and nothing more.<sup id="cite_ref-ash56_6-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ash56-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>If the observer also controls input, the investigation turns into an <a href="/wiki/Experiment" title="Experiment">experiment</a> (illustration), and hypotheses about <a href="/wiki/Causality" title="Causality">cause and effect</a> can be tested directly. </p><p>When the experimenter is also motivated to control the box, there is active feedback in the box/observer relation, promoting what in <a href="/wiki/Control_system" title="Control system">control theory</a> is called a <a href="/wiki/Feed_forward_(control)" title="Feed forward (control)">feed forward</a> architecture. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Modeling">Modeling</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Modeling"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-Expand_section plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="[icon]" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/20px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="14" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/30px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/40px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="44" data-file-height="31" /></a></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>needs expansion</b>. You can help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=">adding to it</a>. <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">June 2019</span>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The <i>modeling process</i> is the construction of a predictive <a href="/wiki/Mathematical_model" title="Mathematical model">mathematical model</a>, using existing historic data (observation table). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Testing_the_black_box_model">Testing the black box model</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Testing the black box model"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Expand_section plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="[icon]" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/20px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="14" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/30px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/40px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="44" data-file-height="31" /></a></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>needs expansion</b>. You can help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=">adding to it</a>. <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">June 2019</span>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>A developed <i>black box model</i> is a validated model when <i><a href="/wiki/Black-box_testing" title="Black-box testing">black-box testing</a></i> methods<sup id="cite_ref-BS7925_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-BS7925-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> ensures that it is, based solely on <a href="/wiki/Observation#Science" title="Observation">observable</a> elements. </p><p>With back testing, out of time data is always used when testing the black box model. Data has to be written down before it is pulled for black box inputs. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Other_theories">Other theories</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Other theories"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Hidrograma.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Hidrograma.png/260px-Hidrograma.png" decoding="async" width="260" height="198" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Hidrograma.png/390px-Hidrograma.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Hidrograma.png/520px-Hidrograma.png 2x" data-file-width="615" data-file-height="468" /></a><figcaption>The observed <a href="/wiki/Hydrograph" title="Hydrograph">hydrograph</a> is a graphic of the response of a <a href="/wiki/Drainage_basin" title="Drainage basin">watershed</a> (a blackbox) with its <a href="/wiki/Surface_runoff" title="Surface runoff">runoff</a> (red) to an input of rainfall (blue).</figcaption></figure> <p><i>Black box theories</i> are those theories defined only in terms of their function.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-CP_12-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-CP-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The term can be applied in any field where some inquiry is made into the relations between aspects of the appearance of a system (exterior of the black box), with no attempt made to explain why those relations should exist (interior of the black box). In this context, <a href="/wiki/Newton%27s_theory_of_gravitation" class="mw-redirect" title="Newton's theory of gravitation">Newton's theory of gravitation</a> can be described as a black box theory.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Specifically, the inquiry is focused upon a system that has no immediately apparent characteristics and therefore has only factors for consideration held within itself hidden from immediate observation. The observer is assumed ignorant in the first instance as the majority of available <a href="/wiki/Data" title="Data">data</a> is held in an inner situation away from <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/facile" class="extiw" title="wikt:facile">facile</a> investigations. The <i>black box</i> element of the definition is shown as being characterised by a system where observable elements enter a perhaps imaginary box with a set of different outputs emerging which are also observable.<sup id="cite_ref-GBB_1_14-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-GBB_1-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Adoption_in_humanities">Adoption in humanities</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Adoption in humanities"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Humanities" title="Humanities">humanities disciplines</a> such as <a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_mind" title="Philosophy of mind">philosophy of mind</a> and <a href="/wiki/Behaviorism" title="Behaviorism">behaviorism</a>, one of the uses of black box theory is to describe and understand <a href="/wiki/Psychological" class="mw-redirect" title="Psychological">psychological</a> factors in fields such as marketing when applied to an analysis of <a href="/wiki/Consumer_behaviour" title="Consumer behaviour">consumer behaviour</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Black_box_theory">Black box theory</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Black box theory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Expand_section plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="[icon]" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/20px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="14" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/30px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/40px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="44" data-file-height="31" /></a></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>needs expansion</b>. You can help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=">adding to it</a>. <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">June 2019</span>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p><i>Black Box theory</i> is even wider in application than professional studies: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The child who tries to open a door has to manipulate the handle (the input) so as to produce the desired movement at the latch (the output); and he has to learn how to control the one by the other without being able to see the internal mechanism that links them. In our daily lives we are confronted at every turn with systems whose internal mechanisms are not fully open to inspection, and which must be treated by the methods appropriate to the Black Box.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>Ashby<sup id="cite_ref-ash56_6-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ash56-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite></div></blockquote> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>(...) This simple rule proved very effective and is an illustration of how the Black Box principle in cybernetics can be used to control situations that, if gone into deeply, may seem very complex. <br />A further example of the Black Box principle is the treatment of mental patients. The human brain is certainly a Black Box, and while a great deal of neurological research is going on to understand the mechanism of the brain, progress in treatment is also being made by observing patients' responses to stimuli.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>Duckworth, Gear and Lockett<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite></div></blockquote> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Applications">Applications</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Applications"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Blackbox3D-obs.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Blackbox3D-obs.png/252px-Blackbox3D-obs.png" decoding="async" width="252" height="167" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Blackbox3D-obs.png/378px-Blackbox3D-obs.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Blackbox3D-obs.png/504px-Blackbox3D-obs.png 2x" data-file-width="600" data-file-height="398" /></a><figcaption>When the observer (an <a href="/wiki/Multi-agent_system" title="Multi-agent system">agent</a>) can also do some stimulus (input), the relation with the black box is not only an observation, but an <a href="/wiki/Experiment" title="Experiment">experiment</a>.</figcaption></figure> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Computing_and_mathematics">Computing and mathematics</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Computing and mathematics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>In <a href="/wiki/Computer_programming" title="Computer programming">computer programming</a> and <a href="/wiki/Software_engineering" title="Software engineering">software engineering</a>, <i><a href="/wiki/Black_box_testing" class="mw-redirect" title="Black box testing">black box testing</a></i> is used to check that the output of a program is as expected, given certain inputs.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The term "black box" is used because the actual program being executed is not examined.</li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/Computing" title="Computing">computing</a> in general, a <i>black box program</i> is one where the user cannot see the inner workings (perhaps because it is a <a href="/wiki/Closed_source" class="mw-redirect" title="Closed source">closed source</a> program) or one which has no side effects and the function of which need not be examined, a routine suitable for re-use.</li> <li>Also in <a href="/wiki/Computing" title="Computing">computing</a>, a black box refers to a piece of equipment provided by a vendor for the purpose of using that vendor's product. It is often the case that the vendor maintains and supports this equipment, and the company receiving the black box typically is hands-off.</li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/Mathematical_model" title="Mathematical model">mathematical modeling</a>, a limiting case.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Science_and_technology">Science and technology</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Science and technology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>In <a href="/wiki/Neural_network" title="Neural network">neural networking</a> or <a href="/wiki/Heuristic_algorithm" class="mw-redirect" title="Heuristic algorithm">heuristic algorithms</a> (computer terms generally used to describe "learning" computers or "AI simulations"), a black box is used to describe the constantly changing section of the program environment which cannot easily be tested by the programmers. This is also called a <a href="/wiki/White_box_(software_engineering)" title="White box (software engineering)">white box</a> in the context that the program code can be seen, but the code is so complex that it is functionally equivalent to a black box.</li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/Physics" title="Physics">physics</a>, a black box is a system whose internal structure is unknown, or need not be considered for a particular purpose.</li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/Cryptography" title="Cryptography">cryptography</a> to capture the notion of knowledge obtained by an algorithm through the execution of a <a href="/wiki/Cryptographic_protocol" title="Cryptographic protocol">cryptographic protocol</a> such as a <a href="/wiki/Zero-knowledge_proof" title="Zero-knowledge proof">zero-knowledge proof</a> protocol. If the output of an algorithm when interacting with the protocol matches that of a simulator given some inputs, it only needs to know the inputs.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Other_applications">Other applications</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Other applications"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>In <a href="/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a> and <a href="/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a>, the school of <a href="/wiki/Behaviorism" title="Behaviorism">behaviorism</a> sees the human <a href="/wiki/Mind" title="Mind">mind</a> as a black box;<sup id="cite_ref-FriSil06_20-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FriSil06-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> see <i><a href="#Other_theories">other theories</a></i>.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1184024115">.mw-parser-output .div-col{margin-top:0.3em;column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .div-col-small{font-size:90%}.mw-parser-output .div-col-rules{column-rule:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .div-col dl,.mw-parser-output .div-col ol,.mw-parser-output .div-col ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .div-col li,.mw-parser-output .div-col dd{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}</style><div class="div-col"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Black_box_group" title="Black box group">Black box group</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blackboxing" title="Blackboxing">Blackboxing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flight_recorder" title="Flight recorder">Flight recorder</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grey_box_model" title="Grey box model">Grey box model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hysteresis" title="Hysteresis">Hysteresis</a></li> <li><i>Open system</i>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Open_system_(systems_theory)" title="Open system (systems theory)">in (general) Systems theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thermodynamic_system#Open_system" title="Thermodynamic system">in Thermodynamics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Feed_forward_(control)#Overview" title="Feed forward (control)">in Control theory</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Multi-agent_system" title="Multi-agent system">Multi-agent system</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Prediction" title="Prediction">Prediction</a>/<a href="/wiki/Retrodiction" title="Retrodiction">Retrodiction</a></li> <li>Related theories <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Oracle_machine" title="Oracle machine">Oracle machine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pattern_recognition" title="Pattern recognition">Pattern recognition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Systems_theory" title="Systems theory">Systems theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Signal_processing" title="Signal processing">Signal processing</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/System_identification" title="System identification">System identification</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stimulus%E2%80%93response_model" title="Stimulus–response model">Stimulus–response model</a></li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Black_box&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFBunge1963" class="citation journal cs1">Bunge, Mario (October 1963). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/philosophy-of-science/article/abs/general-black-box-theory/B7494E2DB8AF8C9C666B67D0DAEDE6E3">"A General Black Box Theory"</a>. <i>Philosophy of Science</i>. <b>30</b> (4): 346–358. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F287954">10.1086/287954</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0031-8248">0031-8248</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Philosophy+of+Science&rft.atitle=A+General+Black+Box+Theory&rft.volume=30&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=346-358&rft.date=1963-10&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1086%2F287954&rft.issn=0031-8248&rft.aulast=Bunge&rft.aufirst=Mario&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cambridge.org%2Fcore%2Fjournals%2Fphilosophy-of-science%2Farticle%2Fabs%2Fgeneral-black-box-theory%2FB7494E2DB8AF8C9C666B67D0DAEDE6E3&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABlack+box" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHaskel-Ittah2023" class="citation journal cs1">Haskel-Ittah, Michal (April 2023). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2Ftea.21817">"Explanatory black boxes and mechanistic reasoning"</a>. <i>Journal of Research in Science Teaching</i>. <b>60</b> (4): 915–933. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023JRScT..60..915H">2023JRScT..60..915H</a>. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2Ftea.21817">10.1002/tea.21817</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0022-4308">0022-4308</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Research+in+Science+Teaching&rft.atitle=Explanatory+black+boxes+and+mechanistic+reasoning&rft.volume=60&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=915-933&rft.date=2023-04&rft.issn=0022-4308&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1002%2Ftea.21817&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F2023JRScT..60..915H&rft.aulast=Haskel-Ittah&rft.aufirst=Michal&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1002%252Ftea.21817&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABlack+box" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Cauer, Wilhelm; <i>Theorie der linearen Wechselstromschaltungen</i>, <b>Vol.I</b>, Akademische Verlags-Gesellschaft Becker und Erler, Leipzig, 1941.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Cauer, Emil; Mathis, Wolfgang; and Pauli, Rainer; "Life and Work of Wilhelm Cauer (1900 – 1945)", <i>Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Symposium of Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS2000)</i>, p4, Perpignan, June, 2000. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall03/cs323/links/cauer.pdf">Retrieved online</a> 19 September 2008.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Belevitch, Vitold; "Summary of the history of circuit theory", <i>Proceedings of the IRE</i>, <b>vol 50</b>, Iss 5, pp. 848-855, May 1962.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ash56-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-ash56_6-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ash56_6-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ash56_6-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ash56_6-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Ashby, W. Ross; <i>An introduction to cybernetics</i>, London: Chapman & Hall, 1956, chapter 6: <i>The black box</i>, pp. 86–117.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Wiener, Norbert; <i>Cybernetics: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine</i>, <a href="/wiki/MIT_Press" title="MIT Press">MIT Press</a>, 1961, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-262-73009-X" title="Special:BookSources/0-262-73009-X">0-262-73009-X</a>, page xi</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Bunge63-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Bunge63_8-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Bunge63_8-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Bunge, Mario; "A general black-box theory", Philosophy of Science, Vol. 30, No. 4, 1963, pp. 346-358. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/pss/186066">jstor/186066</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-gla09-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-gla09_9-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Glanville, Ranulph; "Black Boxes", Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 2009, pp. 153-167.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-BS7925-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-BS7925_10-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">See for ex. the British standard BS 7925-2 (Software component testing), or its 2001 work draft,<br />BCS SIGIST (British Computer Society Specialist Interest Group in Software Testing), "Standard for Software Component Testing", Working Draft 3.4, 27 April 2001 <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.testingstandards.co.uk/bs_7925-2.htm">webpage</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.answers.com/topic/black-box-theory">Definition from Answers.com</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-CP-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-CP_12-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFClara1963" class="citation journal cs1">Clara, Parker (1963). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/287954?journalCode=phos">"A General Black Box Theory"</a>. <i>Philosophy of Science</i>. <b>30</b> (4). Mario Bunge: 346–358. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F287954">10.1086/287954</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:123014360">123014360</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">23 December</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Philosophy+of+Science&rft.atitle=A+General+Black+Box+Theory&rft.volume=30&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=346-358&rft.date=1963&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1086%2F287954&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A123014360%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Clara&rft.aufirst=Parker&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.journals.uchicago.edu%2Fdoi%2Fabs%2F10.1086%2F287954%3FjournalCode%3Dphos&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABlack+box" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Vincent Wilmot, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.new-science-theory.com/isaac-newton.html">"Sir Isaac Newton - mathematical laws Black Box theory"</a>, new-science-theory.com, retrieved 13 October 2022.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-GBB_1-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-GBB_1_14-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBunge,_M.1963" class="citation journal cs1">Bunge, M. (1963). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/186066">"A General Black Box Theory"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_Science" class="mw-redirect" title="Philosophy of Science">Philosophy of Science</a></i>. <b>30</b> (4): 346–358. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F287954">10.1086/287954</a>. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/186066">186066</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">8 January</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Philosophy+of+Science&rft.atitle=A+General+Black+Box+Theory&rft.volume=30&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=346-358&rft.date=1963&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1086%2F287954&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F186066%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.au=Bunge%2C+M.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F186066&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABlack+box" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.marcbowles.com/courses/adv_dip/module12/chapter4/amc12_ch4_two.htm">Institute for working futures</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120626014001/http://www.marcbowles.com/courses/adv_dip/module12/chapter4/amc12_ch4_two.htm">Archived</a> 26 June 2012 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> part of Advanced Diploma in Logistics and Management. Retrieved 11/09/2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=8qlKaIq0AccC">Black-box theory used to understand Consumer behaviour</a> Marketing By Richard L. Sandhusen. Retrieved 11/09/2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://designshack.co.uk/articles/business-articles/using-the-black-box-model-to-design-better-websites/">designing of websites</a> Retrieved 11/09/2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">WE Duckworth, AE Gear and AG Lockett (1977), "A Guide to Operational Research". <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-94-011-6910-3">10.1007/978-94-011-6910-3</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Beizer, Boris; <i>Black-Box Testing: Techniques for Functional Testing of Software and Systems</i>, 1995, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-471-12094-4" title="Special:BookSources/0-471-12094-4">0-471-12094-4</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FriSil06-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FriSil06_20-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"Mind as a Black Box: The Behaviorist Approach", pp. 85-88, in Friedenberg, Jay; and Silverman, Gordon; <i>Cognitive Science: An Introduction to the Study of Mind</i>, Sage Publications, 2006.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox authority-control" aria-label="Navbox" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Help:Authority_control" title="Help:Authority control">Authority control databases</a>: National <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29256#identifiers" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/15px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20" /></a></span></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"><ul><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://d-nb.info/gnd/4539866-5">Germany</a></span></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_box&oldid=1258117770">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_box&oldid=1258117770</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Cybernetics" title="Category:Cybernetics">Cybernetics</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Systems_theory" title="Category:Systems theory">Systems theory</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Metatheory_of_science" title="Category:Metatheory of science">Metatheory of science</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Metaphors_referring_to_objects" title="Category:Metaphors referring to objects">Metaphors referring to objects</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Software_design_patterns" title="Category:Software design patterns">Software design patterns</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Programming_principles" title="Category:Programming principles">Programming principles</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Webarchive_template_wayback_links" title="Category:Webarchive template wayback links">Webarchive template wayback links</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_short_description" title="Category:Articles with short description">Articles with short description</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Short_description_matches_Wikidata" title="Category:Short description matches Wikidata">Short description matches Wikidata</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Use_dmy_dates_from_November_2013" title="Category:Use dmy dates from November 2013">Use dmy dates from November 2013</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_to_be_expanded_from_June_2019" title="Category:Articles to be expanded from June 2019">Articles to be expanded from June 2019</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_to_be_expanded" title="Category:All articles to be expanded">All articles to be expanded</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 18 November 2024, at 06:16<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy policy">Privacy Policy</a>. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.</a>, a non-profit organization.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_box&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" loading="lazy"></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-settings" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul></ul> </div><script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-24l65","wgBackendResponseTime":137,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.544","walltime":"0.708","ppvisitednodes":{"value":2115,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":33616,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":3443,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":16,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":5,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":48648,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":1,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 613.026 1 -total"," 32.34% 198.231 1 Template:Reflist"," 20.43% 125.270 4 Template:Cite_journal"," 14.92% 91.489 1 Template:Black-box"," 14.70% 90.121 1 Template:Authority_control"," 14.43% 88.487 1 Template:Infobox"," 12.42% 76.155 1 Template:Short_description"," 9.24% 56.637 3 Template:Expand_section"," 8.32% 50.984 3 Template:Ambox"," 6.86% 42.068 2 Template:Pagetype"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.335","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":5965011,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-j7v4x","timestamp":"20241122143302","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","name":"Black box","url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Black_box","sameAs":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q29256","mainEntity":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q29256","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Contributors to Wikimedia projects"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/static\/images\/wmf-hor-googpub.png"}},"datePublished":"2001-10-12T20:07:17Z","dateModified":"2024-11-18T06:16:11Z","headline":"system where only the inputs and outputs can be viewed, and not its implementation"}</script> </body> </html>