Operations research

Operations Research (OR) in the USA, Canada, South Africa and Australia, and Operational Research in Europe, is an interdisciplinary branch of applied mathematics and formal science that uses methods such as mathematical modeling, statistics, and algorithms to arrive at optimal or near optimal solutions to complex problems. It is typically concerned with optimizing the maxima (profit, assembly line performance, crop yield, bandwidth, etc) or minima (loss, risk, etc.) of some objective function. Operations research helps management achieve its goals using scientific methods.

Model of Operation research study, based on Stafford Beer (1959).^[1]

Contents

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• 1 Overview
• 2 History
  • 2.1 World War II
  • 2.2 After World War II
• 3 Scope of operations research
• 4 Societies and journals
• 5 See also
• 6 Further reading
• 7 References
• 8 External links