Data, Models, and Decisions

Book excerpt: Combines topics from two traditionally distinct quantitative subjects, probability/statistics and management science/optimization, in a unified treatment of quantitative methods and models for management. Stresses those fundamental concepts that are most important for the practical analysis of management decisions: modeling and evaluating uncertainty explicitly, understanding the dynamic nature of decision-making, using historical data and limited information effectively, simulating complex systems, and allocating scarce resources optimally.