Towards a formalization of budgets

Abstract

We go into the need for, and the requirements on, a formal theory of budgets. We present a simple algebraic theory of rational budgets, i.e., budgets in which amounts of money are specified by functions on the rational numbers. This theory is based on the tuplix calculus. We go into the importance of using totalized models for the rational numbers. We present a case study on the educational budget of a university department offering master programs.