This book provides a comprehensive introduction to nonlinear programming, featuring a broad range of applications and solution methods in the field of continuous optimization. It begins with a summary of classical results on unconstrained optimization, followed by a wealth of applications from a diverse mix of fields, e.g. location analysis, traffic planning, and water quality management, to name but a few. In turn, the book presents a formal description of optimality conditions, followed by an in-depth discussion of the main solution techniques. Each method is formally described, and then fully solved using a numerical example.

The book presents a unified treatment of integer programming and network models with topics ranging from exact and heuristic algorithms to network flows, traveling salesman tours, and traffic assignment problems. While the emphasis of the book is on models and applications, the most important methods and algorithms are described in detail and illustrated by numerical examples. The formulations and the discussion of a large variety of models provides insight into their structures that allows the user to better evaluate the solutions to the problems.

The purpose of this book is to provide readers with an introduction to the fields of decision making, location analysis, and project and machine scheduling. The combination of these topics is not an accident: decision analysis can be used to investigate decision seenarios in general, location analysis is one of the prime examples of decision making on the strategic Ievel, project scheduling is typically concemed with decision making on the tactical Ievel, and machine scheduling deals with decision making on the operational Ievel. Some of the chapters were originally contributed by different authors, and we have made every attempt to unify the notation, style, and, most importantly, the Ievel of the exposition. Similar to our book on Integer Programming and Network Models (Eiselt and Sandblom, 2000), the emphasis of this volume is on models rather than solution methods. This is particularly important in a book that purports to promote the science of decision making. As such, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as weil as practitioners, will find this volume beneficial. While different authors prefer different degrees of mathematical sophistication, we have made every possible attempt to unify the approaches, provide clear explanations, and make this volume accessible to as many readers as possible.

The purpose of this book is to provide readers with an introduction to the fields of decision making, location analysis, and project and machine scheduling. The combination of these topics is not an accident: decision analysis can be used to investigate decision seenarios in general, location analysis is one of the prime examples of decision making on the strategic Ievel, project scheduling is typically concemed with decision making on the tactical Ievel, and machine scheduling deals with decision making on the operational Ievel. Some of the chapters were originally contributed by different authors, and we have made every attempt to unify the notation, style, and, most importantly, the Ievel of the exposition. Similar to our book on Integer Programming and Network Models (Eiselt and Sandblom, 2000), the emphasis of this volume is on models rather than solution methods. This is particularly important in a book that purports to promote the science of decision making. As such, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as weil as practitioners, will find this volume beneficial. While different authors prefer different degrees of mathematical sophistication, we have made every possible attempt to unify the approaches, provide clear explanations, and make this volume accessible to as many readers as possible.

This is the third edition of a textbook that has been used in a number of undergraduate courses and covers the standard models and techniques used in decision-making in organizations. The main emphasis of the book is on modelling business-related scenarios and the generation of decision alternatives. Fully solved examples from many areas are used to illustrate the main concepts without getting bogged down in technical details. The book presents an approach to operations research that is heavily based on modelling and makes extensive use of sensitivity analyses. It is the result of the authors' many years of combined teaching experience. The third edition includes new topics such as nonlinear programming and reliability theory, as well as additional material on multi-attribute decision-making. Each chapter includes a number of fully solved problems that allow students to practice or self-study. Additional problems are available on the book's accompanying website.

This is the third edition of a textbook that has been used in a number of undergraduate courses and covers the standard models and techniques used in decision-making in organizations. The main emphasis of the book is on modelling business-related scenarios and the generation of decision alternatives. Fully solved examples from many areas are used to illustrate the main concepts without getting bogged down in technical details. The book presents an approach to operations research that is heavily based on modelling and makes extensive use of sensitivity analyses. It is the result of the authors’ many years of combined teaching experience. The third edition includes new topics such as nonlinear programming and reliability theory, as well as additional material on multi-attribute decision-making. Each chapter includes a number of fully solved problems that allow students to practice or self-study. Additional problems are available on the book’s accompanying website.

The purpose of this book is to provide readers with an introduction to the very active field of integer programming and network models. The idea is to cover the main parts of the field without being too detailed or too technical. As a matter of fact, we found it somewhat surprising that most--especially newer---books are strongly algorithmically oriented. In contrast, the main emphasis of this book is on models rather than methods. This focus expresses our view that methods are tools to solve actual problems and not ends in themselves. As such, graduate (and with some omissions, undergraduate) students may find this book helpful in their studies as will practitioners who would like to get acquainted with a field or use this text as a refresher. This premise has resulted in a coverage that omits material that is standard fare in other books, whereas it covers topics that are only infrequently found elsewhere. There are some, yet relatively few, prerequisites for the reader. Most material that is required for the understanding of more than one chapter is presented in one of the four chapters of the introductory part, which reviews the main results in linear programming, the analysis of algorithms, graphs and networks, and dynamic programming, respectively. Readers who are familiar with the issues involved can safely skip that part. The three main parts of the book rely on intuitive reasoning and examples, whenever practical, instead of theorems and proofs.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to nonlinear programming, featuring a broad range of applications and solution methods in the field of continuous optimization. It begins with a summary of classical results on unconstrained optimization, followed by a wealth of applications from a diverse mix of fields, e.g. location analysis, traffic planning, and water quality management, to name but a few. In turn, the book presents a formal description of optimality conditions, followed by an in-depth discussion of the main solution techniques. Each method is formally described, and then fully solved using a numerical example.