Operations Research An Introduction

Аннотация

Over the past few editions, I agonized over the benefit of continuing to include the hand computational algorithms that, to my thinking, have been made obsolete by present-day great advances in computing. I no longer have this “anxiety” because I sought and received feedback from colleagues regarding this matter. The consensus is that these classical algorithms must be preserved because they are an important part of OR history. Some responses even included possible scenarios (now included in this edition) in which these classical algorithms can be beneficial in practice. In the spirit of my colleagues collective wisdom, which I now enthusiastically espouse, I added throughout the book some 25 entries titled Aha! moments. These entries, written mostly in an informal style, deal with OR anecdotes/stories (some dating back to centuries ago) and OR concepts (theory, applications, computations, and teaching methodology). The goal is to provide a historical perspective of the roots of OR (and, hopefully, render a “less dry” book read).