(1) Isoroku Yamamoto lost in five minutes.
In war, sometimes the negligence of a small data will lead to the failure of the whole war.
In World War II, Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese joint fleet, was a "desperate general" who "won all or lost all". In the Midway naval battle, when the Japanese fleet found that the air raid failed as planned and an American aircraft carrier appeared on the sea, Isoroku Yamamoto ignored the advice of his colleagues and tried to annihilate each other in one fell swoop. He ordered the plane parked on the deck to unload the bomb, put on a torpedo and take off to attack the American ship, in an attempt to sink the aircraft carrier with a torpedo in order to obtain the maximum strike effect. This has not taken into account that it takes five minutes at the earliest for the plane to load the torpedo, and within these five minutes, it may be attacked first by the plane on the American aircraft carrier.
Sure enough, because the U.S. military successfully cracked the code of the Japanese navy and read the command sent by Isoroku Yamamoto to the commanders (and the information for cracking the code was provided by Chi Buzhou, a Japanese student who returned from studying in China), within five minutes of the Japanese plane reloading with a torpedo, the Japanese ship and the "plane lying on the deck" became living targets and were "completely slaughtered" by the U.S. military plane that took off quickly. When the Japanese fleet was defeated, Isoroku Yamamoto was also killed, and Japan changed from strategic attack to strategic defense in the Pacific battlefield. What a heavy loss this "wrong five minutes" caused to the Japanese fleet.
(2) General Barton's warships and wave heights
1942 10 General George S. George S. Patton of the United States led more than 40,000 American troops and arrived in Morocco, 4000 kilometers away from the United States, on10/8. 165438+1On October 4th, the northwest wind suddenly blew at sea, and the stormy waves made the ship tilt 42. The weather didn't improve until165438+1October 6th. Worried that the fleet would be destroyed by strong winds, Washington headquarters ordered Barton's fleet to land at any other port along the Mediterranean coast. Barton called back: "No matter what the weather is like, I will stick to the plan." 165438+1At midnight on October 7, the sea suddenly became calm, and Barton's army landed successfully as planned. Afterwards, people commented that it was a lucky victory, and the "bloody general" was betting on the lives of soldiers.
In fact, General Patton is using "mathematics as a bet". Before departure, he and meteorologists studied the law of wave changes and related parameters in Moroccan waters in detail. He knew that 165438, although there was a strong wind in the waters from June 4 to 7, according to the usual relationship between the maximum wave height and the proportion of ships in the waters, it just didn't reach the level of capsizing and wouldn't cause danger to the whole fleet. However,165438+1October 8 is a good weather for landing. Barton seized this "terrible opportunity" and suddenly appeared in front of the enemy by using scientific prediction and reliable edge parameters.
(3) Prediction and Korean Battlefield
1The Korean War broke out in June, 950. Soon, the "United Nations Army" led by the United States landed in Incheon under the command of D. MacArthur, which cut off the rear road of the Korean People's Army, surrounded and plunged its main force. Then, the "United Nations Army" went north and approached the Yalu River. What's the attitude of the top leaders of New China less than a year after the founding of the People's Republic of China towards this war at the national gate? At that time, the US government funded the RAND Corporation to do an emergency study and reported the results to the US President. According to the declassified report after the war, the conclusion of this study is extremely clear: China will send troops to the DPRK to participate in the war! Completely in line with historical reality. Rand Company believes that although the economic strength and military equipment of new China are not as good as those of the United States at that time, quite a few senior generals are skeptical about sending troops, but at that critical moment, in addition to sending troops to North Korea to participate in the war, due to the political structure of the Soviet Union, China and North Korea, the historical origin of the leaders of China and North Korea, the morale of the China army, the support of the domestic people, the prestige of the China Production Party and the favorable conditions for neighboring countries to fight. Interestingly, in his thorough analysis, President Mao Zedong's personality and psychological analysis are also included. Mao Zedong has a strong character, never afraid of strong enemies, and never flinched in the face of challenges. Therefore, it can be concluded that Mao Zedong will finally make a major decision to participate in the war.
(4) Cuba's missile crisis
Game theory is a mathematical method to study how to choose the best strategy in conflict situations. The basic idea of game theory is based on the worst situation and strive for the best result. In military affairs, it is usually the most appropriate to apply game theory without knowing how the other side intends to act.
1962 10 10 In October, the Soviet Union attempted to place a missile with a nuclear warhead in Cuba, which led to the most dangerous military confrontation between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, in the 20th century, which led to the Cuban missile crisis. John fitzgerald kennedy, then US President, called an executive committee of senior officials to decide the steps of the United States. Finally, we choose to implement two schemes: sea blockade or air strike.
Similarly, Soviet Prime Minister Khrushchev had two choices: withdraw missiles or leave them.
We can use the following payment matrix to summarize the situation faced by Kennedy and Khrushchev:
The first item in brackets above is the ranking chosen by the United States, and the second item is the ranking of the Soviet Union. Among them, four times is the best, and three times is the second ... From the perspective of game theory, the best result should be "blockade and retreat", but the final result is the same. Therefore, in a sense, the Soviet Union withdrew its missiles from Cuba, the United States "won" countermeasures, and the Soviet Union also received a promise from the United States not to invade Cuba.
Because of the high complexity of military struggle, the decisions made by modern digital means are not always correct. Therefore, only by combining the accuracy of the computer with the intuition of the human brain can we make a real "scientific decision" and win the final victory.
(5) Equation and Gulf War
1990, Iraq ignited hundreds of oil wells in Kuwait, and smoke covered the sky. The United States and its allies have seriously considered the consequences of igniting all oil wells. This is not just pollution, because the sky is full of smoke and dust, and the sunlight can't reach the ground, which will lead to the temperature drop. If it is out of control, it will cause global climate change and may cause irreparable ecological and economic consequences. According to the American Supercomputing Review magazine, the Pentagon commissioned Pacific Serra Research Company to study this issue. This company uses the basic equations of fluid mechanics and the equations of heat transfer to build a mathematical model. Through computer simulation, it is concluded that the consequences of igniting all oil wells in Kuwait are serious, but it will only affect the Gulf region, southern Iran, India and northern Pakistan, and will not get out of control, causing global climate change and irreparable losses to the earth's ecological and economic systems, that is, it will not have global consequences. This prompted the United States to make up its mind to invade Iraq
The United States dispatched a large number of personnel and materials in place, and ended the Gulf War in just one month because of the application of operational research and optimization technology. So people say that "World War I is a chemical war (explosives), World War II is a physical war (atomic bomb), and the Gulf War is a mathematical war".