AS/SC/AK/ MATH 3170 6.0

Operations Research I

      A study of linear programming; transportation problems, including network flows, assignment problems and critical path analysis; integer programming; dynamic programming and an introduction to stochastic models. Application to a set of problems representative of the field of operations research.
      This course deals with standard optimization techniques used in Operations Research. The main topics include:
(a) Linear Programming: the theory and applications of linear programming including the simplex algorithm, duality theorem, postoptimality analysis, and a discussion of the types of problems that lead to linear programming problems.
(b) Transportation Problems: the transportation algorithm with applications to network flows, assignment problems, shortest-route problems, and critical path scheduling.
(c) Integer Programming: a study of the situations leading to integer-programming problems, branch-and-bound algorithm for solving such problems. (d) Dynamic Programming: an introduction to the concepts of dynamic programming with a discussion of typical problems and their solutions.
      The text will be W.L. Winston, Operations Research. Applications and Algorithms (3rd Ed.), Wadsworth Publishing Co., Duxbury Press, 1994.
      The final grade will be based on two assignments (2.5% each), two tests (25% each), and a final examination (45%).
      Students who have not taken the prerequisite courses need the permission of the course coordinator to enrol.
      Note: The Faculties of Arts and of Pure and Applied Science have approved reduced computing prerequisites for this course as of March 1999 (see below); Atkinson approval of these is pending.