The Odum–Pinkerton approach to Lotka's proposal was to apply Ohm's law – and the associated maximum power theorem (a result in electrical power systems) – to ecological systems. Odum and Pinkerton defined "power" in electronic terms as the rate of work, where Work is understood as a " useful energy transformation". The concept of maximum power can therefore be defined as the maximum rate of useful energy transformation. Hence the underlying philosophy aims to unify the theories and associated laws of electronic and thermodynamic systems with biological systems. This approach presupposed an analogical view which sees the world as an ecological-electronic-economic engine.