This chapter introduces control systems and covers the following topics:
1. It defines open-loop and closed-loop control systems, with open-loop systems having no feedback and closed-loop systems using feedback to reduce errors between the output and desired input.
2. It discusses the history of control systems from the 18th century to present day, including developments in areas like stability analysis, frequency response methods, and state-space methods.
3. It compares classical and modern control theory, noting that modern control theory can handle more complex multi-input, multi-output systems through time-domain analysis of differential equations.