it is cross-disciplinary in nature and, in this sense, it might seem similar to mathematics. There is a consid­ erable difference, however, between the two. While pure mathe­ matics is basically oriented to the development of various axiomatic theories, regardless of whether or not they have any real world meaning, applied mathematics explores the applicability of some of these theories as potentially useful methodological tools in various problem areas. General systems research, in contrast with applied mathematics, is problem oriented rather than tool oriented. As such, it tries to develop genuine methods for solving systems problems, i. e. , structural type and context in­ dependent problems. The term "genuine method" is used here to refer to a method which adjusts to the problem rather than re­ quiring that the problem be adjusted to make the method applicable.