Operations Research

A branch of mathematics which encompasses many diverse areas of minimization and optimization. Bronson (1982) describes operations research as being ``concerned with the efficient allocation of scarce resources.'' It includes the Calculus of Variations, Control Theory, Convex Optimization Theory, Decision Theory, Game Theory, Linear Programming, Markov Chains, network analysis, Optimization Theory, queuing systems, etc. The more modern term for operations research is Optimization Theory.

See also Calculus of Variations, Control Theory, Convex Optimization Theory, Decision Theory, Game Theory, Linear Programming, Markov Chain, Optimization Theory, Queue

References

Operations Research

Bronson, R. Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Operations Research. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982.

Hiller, F. S. and Lieberman, G. J. Introduction to Operations Research, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990.

Trick, M. ``Michael Trick's Operations Research Page.'' http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu