Customer Reviews

MP Introduction to Operations Research

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been doing operations research for a number of years now, and I still use this book. I find it really incredible, in that it is the best-written book I have ever seen in this highly mathematical area, with no second! It introduces topics so well that I can skip right to the chapter covering the topic in which I am interested and catch the maximum continuous learning gradient from the global minimum to the global maximum, complete with a survey of and references to the latest research in the field. It's very up to date. The courseware makes it so that even an idiot could understand what is going on. If you can't learn operations research from this, you can't learn operations research. And if you want a quick refresher, an update, or a survey of field X, it accomplishes these equally well.

I hesitated a long time before I bought this book, and I am very sorry about that. I started my M.Sc. in Operations Research and Decisions at the Tel Aviv University 3 years ago, and the first course I took was Optimization. I was a new immigrant to Israel, and I had difficulty in understanding the subject in Hebrew (it is not that easy even when you master the language!) The course book was this one; therefore, I decided to put all my efforts in the book rather than in the classes. Thanks god!

IMHO, Hillier and Lieberman make it clear that Operations Research is the father/mother of all the mathematical and statistical models that support decision making. They wrote the book in a way that all these models (including game theory, Markov models, decision trees, simplex, and others) seem closely linked to, or maybe even a consequence of, the development of Operations Research. The authors do not only explain models and techniques, they tell the story of the introduction of mathematics and statistics into the decision making world.

I read this book from upside down ten times and I really enjoyed it. The examples are so well chosen and interesting that I still remember them. But the biggest advantage of the book is its wide range of subjects, each treated in-depth. I have used the book for three important courses during my masters: Optimization, Stochastic process, and Decision theory. For all these courses, this book was the most comprehensible and interesting resource (though sometimes it was only an introduction, and I had to find more detailed material). The subjects discussed on the book go from an introduction to Operations Research, through modeling techniques, linear programming (Simplex), duality theory, the transportation problem, network optimization, dynamic programming, integer programming, nonlinear programming, game theory, decision analysis, Markov chains, queueing theory, and inventory theory.

Don't hesitate, if you got to this page you probably are looking for a good resource on Operations Research. This tome serves beginners, intermediates, and advanced knowledge seekers in the field.

I haven't read the whole book, only selected chapters. Good book with thorough explanations (but may be considered by some too long winded). Very wordy in style, but OTOH has many examples (very important!) The style is for practioners - it's not a math or algorithms book.

The bad side: no solutions on the back of the book, and no solutions manual to buy. Only instructors have access to the solutions manual. So, for self-study, you might want to look at the competition...ISBN: 0534380581

First off the fact that the book isn't crammed full of proofs makes it easier to follow and understand, some of the examples are made overly complex, but the software that comes along with it are excellent. The Interactive Routine software is outstanding, the big M method was never clear to me until I worked though the routines. The problems are somewhat relavant, but I would have liked to have had more answers in the back of the book.

Although we used the 8th ed in a recent course, it is probably the most well thought out O.R. intro you will find - good relevant case study material for the interested practitioner as well. Not too mathematically rigorous w.r.t. research, but examples are detailed enough, and the book also has a great selection of seemingly real-life practice problems. I especially appreciate ancillary chapters (e.g. crystal ball, project mgmt) being kept on the CD-ROM, it makes it a lot easier to carry and read on the train!

Operations Research isn't that hard but this book makes it seem so. Overly complicated explanations coupled with a weak theoretical background (often explaning things without providing proofs) make it a pain to read. On the upside, there are a gazillion good problems to practice on.

I have a strong math background and I can safely say that this is the worst textbook ever written. It is poorly written with extremely ambiguous explanations of concepts. Example problems are vague and do not adequately cover the topics taught in the text. Furthermore, they seem to pull some "necessary" concepts out of thin air, making it difficult for anyone but the authors to understand. The accompanying courseware is another problem. First off, it doesn't work on most newer computers. You have to download a patch from McGraw-Hill. Even then, it is antiquated-looking (MS-DOS) and constantly crashes even the most high-powered computers. On top of this, the book is extremely overpriced. Stay away from it at all costs.

Maybe not enough explanations behind maths. I didn't find the answers for the cases. Everything else is excellent. The DVD is very useful with Lingo / Lindo included.

A must-have if you like Operations Research.

As a managment student at Tel Aviv university this book was excelent choice for me - it gave me the fundmental basics of solving linear problems. about the disk - there are out there many commercial programs but this one fits the needs of a student because its not too complex and yet it gives the student all the tools he needs

The book may be suitable for some people but I found the explanations excessively long-winded. I frequently found myself crossing out an entire paragraph and a writing summary sentence in the margin. I do not think it will make a good reference because it is very easy to get lost in its verbosity. This is problematic in the real world when you need to refresh your memory of a small detail under time pressure. This book is useful for learning new concepts for the first time but you will quickly outgrow it.