On the expectations of maxima of sets of independent random variables (Q1038427)

The problem is to maximize the expected life time of an \(n\)-component parallel system whose components can be chosen from \(d\) different types that have different life time distributions: Should one choose all \(n\) components of the same type, or should one mix, i.e., use \(k_i\) components of type \(i=1,2,\dots,d\)? Some properties the expected life time as a function of \(k_1,\dots,k_d\) are given. Moreover, the computation of an optimal n-assembly using a discrete steepest ascent method is considered.