Branches of Mathematics
Operations Research
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Operations research is a branch of applied mathematics that develops and applies analytical methods, including optimization, simulation and queueing theory, to improve decision-making.
Facts
Central QuestionGiven a decision-making problem with competing constraints and objectives, which of the field's many techniques, simulation, mathematical optimization, queueing theory, stochastic-process models and the rest, finds a solution that is optimal or close enough to optimal to act on. 1 Key DebateHow operations research relates to the older, narrower techniques it grew out of. Scientists in Britain and in the United States, among them George Dantzig, built the field during the Second World War by searching for better ways to make logistics and training decisions, and the field has since broadened into the wide range of optimization, queueing and decision-analysis techniques it now encompasses, its identity closer to a toolbox unified by purpose than to a single theory. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Operations Research (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead paragraphQuote, Lead paragraph
Operations research (OR) encompasses the development and the use of a wide range of problem-solving techniques and methods applied in the pursuit of improved decision-making and efficiency, such as simulation, mathematical optimization, queueing theory and other stochastic-process models, Markov decision processes, econometric methods, data envelopment analysis, ordinal priority approach, neural networks, expert systems, decision analysis, and the analytic hierarchy process.
1. Operations Research (Wikipedia)
WikipediaOverviewQuote, Overview
operations research arrives at optimal or near-optimal solutions to decision-making problems.
1. Operations Research (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistorical originsQuote, Historical origins
Scientists in the United Kingdom (including Patrick Blackett (later Lord Blackett OM PRS), Cecil Gordon, Solly Zuckerman, (later Baron Zuckerman OM, KCB, FRS), C. H. Waddington, Owen Wansbrough-Jones, Frank Yates, Jacob Bronowski and Freeman Dyson), and in the United States (George Dantzig) looked for ways to make better decisions in such areas as logistics and training schedules.
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