An Analysis Pattern for the Request and Allocation of Limited Resources

In many situations the number of available resources is smaller than the requests for them. For example, tickets for a popular sports game are sold out far before the date of play; a well-paid position in a company may have many applicants; in China, stocks are always sold out when first offered because of their lower price. These are nonreusable resources in that, from the system point of view, there is no provision for the return of the resource and its future allocation. This is in contrast with reusable resources such as vehicles, hotel rooms, and airplane seats, which are returned after use and scheduled to be used again in the future.