Consider the problem of trying to decide which tasks to fund in parallel to achive a given technical objective. For example, the objective might be to develop a low-cost rechargeable battery to power an electric vehicle. The funding options might be the various types of battery technologies available (see Bard and Feinberg 1989). What are the decision variables and functional relationships associated with the problem? What data are required? Be specific with respect to probability functions and any other relationships that might exist.