I'm working an exercise in a textbook. Sorry it is ending up on the list. X(t) is an unknown function that gives the number of people in a system that can serve 1 person at once and takes 1 minute to do so. At a given time t, what defines how many people are there? 1 person may be being served. If so, then any number of people may be waiting in line. People arrive in ordered delays. X(t) ~= (number of people who have arrived between 0 and t) - (number of people who have been fully served between 0 and t)