Engine Equation

In thermodynamics, an engine is a machine that converts one or more forms of energy into mechanical force or motion. In a software context, engine becomes vaguer. It is simply the core component of a complex software system. For example, if some element is used for more than two programs, you can pack that component into a reusable library and call it the engine (sort of.) But can we define the engine better?

I would define an engine as a mathematical equation that takes in asset and time and turns it into utility.

The engine consumes assets and time to convert them to something else useful. Of course, this notion of usefulness is entirely subjective to the human race, just like how information is defined as useful data. Some examples:

• Economies are engines that take in assets such as labor, capital, natural resources, and time and produce outputs goods and services, which can be seen as a measure of utility.