Customer Reviews

Introduction to Mathematical Programming: Applications and Algorithms, Volume 1 (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This isn't your regular review here, because I'm guessing we all "have" to buy this book when we take the course.

This book is very helpful for students of all levels. I took it for an "operations research" class after more than 7 years of not studying any math. Still, the first few chapters offer a recap of algebra needed for the course. In the subsequent chapters, everything progresses slowly with lots of examples, (which is helpful if you miss a class or two).

Good luck with the class using this book then.

As one of the previous reviewers noted this book offers no (very few to be accurate) proofs. While I would normally pounce on an author for neglecting proofs and rigor, Winston approach is rather refreshing and practical. It is like a tool shed filled with tools that one may use without completely understanding its composition. This book is very accessible to people who are not very mathematically apt and provides a gentle introduction for those advanced in mathematics. If you want a general introduction to LP and NLP before you dive into the meat and potatoes (rigor and proofs) or if you want to just pick up some methods to optimize operations related tasks, I highly recommends this book.

The book is very good, brings loads of examples and exercises. It has also a sample version of LINGO, which is quite useful for Operational Researchers.
The only hint I give is the following: if you have already the blue book OPERATIONS RESEARCH by the same author, forget about this one. The content is basically the same, except from two chapters.

There are textbooks where one can really see that effort not only went into minimizing mistakes but also in narrowing the barrier of learning as much as possible (i.e., simplifying without losing mathematical rigor). This text doesn't master either aspect.

Otherwise the book is fairly mediocre. Unfortunately, some obsolete concepts (such as the M method as well as some other algorithms) are covered, but critical concepts (Simplex _fundamentals_) are either ignored or explained poorly (especially the section on direction of unboundedness was confusing, left out critical information, and didn't connect well to the later Simplex chapters).

EDIT: After reading some of the well-written sections that deal with common student errors I thought I was too harsh on this one. Also, I should have not criticized the treatment of the M-method because it is still taught everywhere.
Then I realized that numerous sections in this text introduce concepts with an unintuitive approach, emphasizing memorization over understanding. This is inexcusable and I will refrain from increasing my original rating for this reason.

I try to do the exercises in the book. however, I cannot find the answers to check. Pls send me an email if you have one.

Thank you.

My email; fyw1357@163.com

This is one of the worst textbooks I've ever had. It contains good examples, but terribly explained.

terrible book. lots of mistakes in the problems. some explanations are very confusing.

Package arrived in orderly fashion. Everything that was suppose to be included was shipped. ie. the Book and the solution manual.