In aimed-fire conflict, effective strength grows with the square of numbers, so concentration beats equal division.
Lanchester's 1916 square law. Two forces of 3 and 5 do not fight to a remainder of 2 — the larger wins with about 4 surviving, which is why splitting forces is usually fatal and why Nelson broke the line at Trafalgar.
In practice
- A challenger with a third of the marketing budget wins one city and cedes the rest, and beats a rival who spent evenly everywhere.
- A charity concentrating on two constituencies changes two votes; spread across forty it changes none.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Games & Strategic Interaction
- Essay
- The recurring shapes of conflict and cooperation