Customer Reviews

Operations Research: An Introduction (8th Edition)

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

 

 

I have used this book as a student some 20 years ago and continue to use it today in my line of work. I was surprised to read a CS student complaining that the book does not provide any LP theory. Huh! Apparently the reviewer did not go past the first two chapters because Chapter 7 gives all the necessary mathematical foundation for linear programming. The reviewer also talks about "signedness" difficulty in the book, something I don't understand because "signedness" is not a word in English. As for TORA, true the software is not an "orthodox" Windows development per se particularly for CS majors, but I find it refreshing that it is desigend to eliminate the need for a user manual. And this perhaps is the reason TORA is designed that way. It is very easy to use, and it can be used interactivly (with instant feedback) to help the reader understand the algorithmic details of the different OR techniques. I might also add that I used TORA's LP and IP modules many many times and have compared the results with those from AMPL and Excel Solver. Contrary to the CS reviewer claim,TORA always gave the correct answers. In summary, this book explains the basics of OR (theory, applications and computations)in a clear, concise, and straightforward manner using multitudes of examples. It is no wonder that it has been a leading textbook worldwide for over 35 years.

I just want to respond to the CS major from Denmark. If he/she is that knowlegeable about what OR should or should not include, what is he/she doing taking an introductory course in the subject? This is not a book about writing computer codes for algorithms to please CS majors. It is a book that offers a comprehensive treatment of all three aspects of operations research (theory, applications, and computations), and it does it admirably. Also, if the CS major has read past the first few chapters, he/she will find all the LP/IP theory he/she desires. I belive that TORA is one of the best tutorial programs I (and my students) have ever used. It is easy to use and it gives instant feedback to actions initiated by the user. Also, as far as I know, TORA always gives the correct answers. I am currently teaching an introductory class from Taha's book, and I am very pleased with it (not to mention that its page count is about half the size of the competition -- without loss of substance, I must add)

This is a good book for an Management Science course book which does not go deep into theory. Primarily its good for business majors, however there are better books for business majors who dont want to be involved with the math using Excel exclusively. Ragsdales book comes to mind.

However, there are plenty problems solved and so if you are one of those people who learn through solving problems this is a decent book.

For theory and math pick Bazraas book on LP and NLP or Model Building by Paul Williams which I think is an excellent book.

It starts with the basic introduction to "Linear Programming Problems" and then takes the subject to substantial depth in its first few chapters. Cocepts are explained in a very intuitive manner. Second subject it deals with is "The Transportation Problem" and it is just fabulous. You can solve any "Transportation Problem" if you have read this. Once again the concepts are so beautifully explained. Another chapter that I found interesting was CPM (Critical Path Method) and I liked it too. Positive point of the book is it explains the concepts to their full which is so important in understanding a complex subject like Operation Research. Its definitely worth buying if you are in this field.

My professor recommend the 5th edition of this book as one reference book of the optimization course. Since I cannot find the 5th edition, I use the 6th edition. I found too many errors in the book, calculations of some examples are wrong, many answers are not correct, there are also printing errors. Maybe the 5th edition is really better?

I studied just the first 6 chapters in this book. From them i can say that this book is a good one. It is simple and presents the ideas in a step by step manner. The examples are for wide applications: industries, facility layout, aircrafts, carperntryshops, resturants... It is true that in some places such as in the transportation problem the steps were not clear. Moreover, not all the possible problems and tricks were explained clearly in this chapter. But i think this guy Hamdy Taha cared more about giving you a concept of how you can apply OR in a wide range of applications in a lot of places-more than you can ever think of. To be frank i found this book not so bad as those guys say in their reviews. This book when used with another book will be wonderful

Although it is true that the book has some errors, it was very helpful to me in understanding operations research at a graduate level course without having taken the undergraduate course. The examples are self explanatory as well as the theory that's explained with them. I found the book to be one of the easiest to understand from all the books I have used during my college career.

The approach of giving a detailed example problems is really fine

Book got there on time i was impressed,with how fast the book got to my house.The book is brand new as stated on the web site.

Brand new text book for about 70% discount, arrived within days. CD-ROM included. Great shape. Excellent experience.