Sasas

Sasas

Operations Research (O.R.)

Course outline:

1. Definition of operations Research

2. Linear Programming (L.P.)

2/1 Graphical Method

2/2 Simplex Method

3. Transportation Problem

4. Network Analysis

References:

Hamdy A. Taha, Operations Research /an introduction (prentice-Hall International, Inc, USA, 1997)

Frederick S. Hiller and Gerald J. Lieberan Operations Research: (Holden-Day, Inc, USA)

Definition of Operations Research (O.R.)

1. The origins of operations Research

The roots of operations research can be traced back to many decades, when early attempts were made to use a scientific approach in the management of organizations. However, the beginning of the activity called operations research has generally been attributed to the military services early in World War II. Because of the war effort, there was an urgent need to allocate scarce resources to the various military operations and to the activities within each operation in an effective manner. Therefore, the British and then the American military management called upon a large number of scientific to apply a scientific approach to dealing with this and other strategic and tactical problems. In effect they were asked to do research on (military) operations. These teams of scientists were the first operations research teams. Their efforts allegedly were instrumental in winning the war.

Spurred on by the apparent success of operations research in the military industry gradually became interested in this new held. As the industrial boom following the war was running its course, the problems caused by the increasing complexity and specializations in organizations were again coming to the Fore Front. It was becoming apparent to a growing number on people including business consultants who had served on or with the operations research teams during the war that these were basically the same problems but in a different contact that...

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