Define Operations Research
Define Operations Research
Define Operations Research
Operational research, also known as operations research, is an interdisciplinary branch of applied mathematics and formal science that uses advanced analytical methods such as mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, and mathematical optimization to arrive at optimal or near-optimal solutions to complex decision-making problems. It is often concerned with determining the maximum (of profit, performance, or yield) or minimum (of loss, risk, or cost) of some real-world objective. Originating in military efforts before World War II, its techniques have grown to concern problems in a variety of industries.
and
scheduling airlines, including both planes and crew, deciding the appropriate place to site new facilities such as a warehouse, factory or fire station, managing the flow of water from reservoirs, identifying possible future development paths for parts of the telecommunications industry, establishing the information needs and appropriate systems to supply them within the health service,
identifying and understanding the strategies adopted by companies for their information systems
Management science is also concerned with so-called soft-operational analysis, which concerns methods for strategic planning, strategic decision support, and Problem Structuring Methods (PSM). In dealing with these sorts of challenges mathematical modeling and simulation are not appropriate or will not suffice. Therefore, during the past 30 years, a number of non-quantified modelling methods have been developed. These include:
stakeholder based approaches including metagame analysis and drama theory morphological analysis and various forms of influence diagrams. approaches using cognitive mapping the Strategic Choice Approach robustness analysis
Operational research encompasses a wide range of problem-solving techniques and methods applied in the pursuit of improved decision-making and efficiency.[2] Some of the tools used by operational researchers are statistics, optimization, probability theory, queuing theory,game theory, graph theory, decision
analysis, mathematical modeling and simulation. Because of the computational nature of these fields, OR also has strong ties to computer science. Operational researchers faced with a new problem must determine which of these techniques are most appropriate given the nature of the system, the goals for improvement, and constraints on time and computing power. Work in operational research and management science may be characterized as one of three categories:[3]
Modeling work is concerned with the construction of models, analyzing them mathematically,
implementing them on computers, solving them using software tools, and assessing their effectiveness with data. This level is mainly instrumental, and driven mainly by statisticsand econometrics.
Application work in operational research, like other engineering and economics' disciplines, attempts to
use models to make a practical impact on real-world problems. The major subdisciplines in modern operational research, as identified by the journal Operations Research,[4] are:
Computing and information technologies Decision analysis Environment, energy, and natural resources Financial engineering Manufacturing, service sciences, and supply chain management Policy modeling and public sector work Revenue management Simulation Stochastic models Transportation
tasks by assigning exactly one agent to each task in such a way that the total cost of the assignment is minimized. If the numbers of agents and tasks are equal and the total cost of the assignment for all tasks is equal to the sum of the costs for each agent (or the sum of the costs for each task, which is the same thing in this case), then the problem is called the Linear assignment problem. Commonly, when speaking of the Assignment problem without any additional qualification, then the Linear assignment problem is meant.
Hungarian Algorithm
The Hungarian method is a combinatorial optimization algorithm which solves the assignment problem in polynomial time and which anticipated later primal-dual methods. It was developed and published by Harold Kuhn in 1955, who gave the name "Hungarian method" because the algorithm was largely based on the earlier works of two Hungarian mathematicians: Dnes Knig and Jen Egervry. James Munkres reviewed the algorithm in 1957 and observed that it is (strongly) polynomial. Since then the algorithm has been known also as Kuhn-Munkres algorithm or Munkres assignment algorithm. The time complexity of the original algorithm was O(n4), howeverEdmonds and Karp, and independently Tomizawa noticed that it can be modified to achieve an O(n3) running time. Ford and Fulkersonextended the method to general transportation problems. In 2006, it was discovered that Carl Gustav Jacobi had solved the assignment problem in the 19th century, and published posthumously in 1890 in Latin.[1]
However, the assignment problem can be made rather more flexible than it first appears. In the above example, suppose that there are four taxis available, but still only three customers. Then a fourth dummy task can be invented, perhaps called "sitting still doing nothing", with a cost of 0 for the taxi assigned to it. The assignment problem can then be solved in the usual way and still give the best solution to the problem. Similar tricks can be played in order to allow more tasks than agents, tasks to which multiple agents must be assigned (for instance, a group of more customers than will fit in one taxi), or maximizing profit rather than minimizing cost. [edit]Formal mathematical definition The formal definition of the assignment problem (or linear assignment problem) is Given two sets, A and T, of equal size, together with a weight function C : A T R. Find a bijection f : A T such that the cost function:
is minimized. Usually the weight function is viewed as a square real-valued matrix C, so that the cost function is written down as:
The problem is "linear" because the cost function to be optimized as well as all the constraints contain only linear terms. The problem can be expressed as a standard linear program with the objective function
for
for for
, . The variable xij represents the assignment of agent i to task j, taking value 1 if the assignment is done and 0 otherwise. This formulation allows also fractional variable values, but there is always an optimal solution where the variables take integer values. This is because the constraint matrix is totally unimodular. The first constraint requires that every agent is
assigned to exactly one task, and the second constraint requires that every task is assigned exactly one agent.