handout 2 Flashcards
(21 cards)
what will mathematical models help companies with?
it will help them satisfy an objective, maximize or minimize something
what do mathematical models use to help companies satisfy objectives?
they use with qualitative date or quantitative data
what is an example of qualitative data?
labour rules
preferences
ratings
what is an example of quantitive data?
materials
equipment
capacity
capital
what is a model a representation of?
it is a representation of a problem
what are models based on?
assumptions
why are not all models successful?
they depend upon a large number of poorly understood and uncontrollable variables
what is important to have when dealing with models?
some skepticism
what are the 4 steps in the problem-solving process?
define the problem
model the problem
solve the model
communicate the results (needs to be translated in to a reasonable plan)
what is success with quantitative modelling?
converting model results into business insights and using those insights to improve business
what are the 2 kinds of success with quantitative modelling?
technical success
organizational success
what is technical success?
when the model works
what is organizational success?
when the model us continuously used
what is optimization?
wanting to make the best of something or optimizing it
when faced with a decision what would a manager want to do?
they would typically like to do the best thing and take the optimal course of action
what are the 3 characteristics of an optimization problem?
decisions must be made
there is some objective trying to be achieved
there are restrictions or constraints placed on the problem
what are the 4 steps in solving optimization problems?
understanding the problem (involves data collection about the problem)
identifying the decision variables
stating the objective function (typically profit)
state the constraints
what is a feasible solution?
a solution that satisfies all the constraints
what is an infeasible solution?
a solution that does not satisfy one or more of the constraints
what is an optimal solution?
a solution that results in the maximum or minimum objective is called the optimal solution
