Ravi Ravindran A. (ed.) Operations Research Methodologies

Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2009. — 478 p.Operations research (OR), which began as an interdisciplinary activity to solve complex problems in the military during World War II, has grown in the past 50 years to a full fledged academic discipline. Now OR is viewed as a body of established mathematical models and methods to solve complex management problems. OR provides a quantitative analysis of the problem from which the management can make an objective decision. OR has drawn upon skills from mathematics, engineering, business, computer science, economics, and statistics to contribute to a wide variety of applications in business, industry, government, and military. OR methodologies and their applications continue to grow and flourish in a number of decision-making fields.
The objective of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of OR models and methods in a single volume. This book is not an OR textbook or a research monograph.
The intent is that the book becomes the first resource a practitioner would reach for when faced with an OR problem or question. The key features of this book are as follows:
Single source guide to OR techniques
Comprehensive resource, but concise
Coverage of emerging OR methodologies
Quick reference guide to students, researchers, and practitioners
Bridges theory and practice
References to computer software availability
Designed and edited with nonexperts in mind
Unified and up-to-date coverage ideal for ready reference
This book contains 14 chapters that cover not only the fundamental OR models and methods such as linear, nonlinear, integer and dynamic programming, networks, simulation, queueing, inventory, stochastic processes, and decision analysis, but also emerging OR techniques such as multiple criteria optimization, metaheuristics, robust optimization, and complexity and large-scale networks. Each chapter gives an overview of a particular OR methodology, illustrates successful applications, and provides references to computer software availability. Each chapter in this book is written by leading authorities in the field and is devoted to a topic listed as follows:
Linear programming
Nonlinear programming
Integer programming
Network optimization
Multiple criteria decision making
Decision analysis
Dynamic programming
Stochastic processes
Queueing theory
Inventory control
Complexity and large-scale networks
Simulation
Metaheuristics
Robust optimization
This book will be an ideal reference book for OR practitioners in business, industry government, and academia. It can also serve as a supplemental text in undergraduate and graduate OR courses in the universities. Readers may also be interested in the companion book titled Operations Research Applications, which contains both functional and industry specific applications of the OR methodologies discussed here.