IM 2010: Operations Research, Spring 2014

Instructor: Ling-Chieh Kung
Department of Information Management
National Taiwan University

Note. For this course, I plan to adopt the "flipped classroom" principle, which should be new to most of NTU students. Please pay attention to the syllabus to get an idea about the design of this course.

Operations Research (OR) is a field in which people use mathematical and engineering methods to support decision making. While the main application of OR is to solve business problems, people in the fields of Economics, Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, etc., also benefit from OR methods. People use those models, algorithms, and solution processes in OR to optimize all kinds of decisions. This is why people refer to OR as a decision making tool. In this course, we will study how to facilitate decision making for either a single decision maker or multiple decision makers. Most examples will be adopted from the business world while some will be from various engineering fields. Basic knowledge on Calculus, Linear Algebra, Economics, and Probability is assumed for students taking this course.

This is a required course for the sophomores in the Department of Information Management in National Taiwan University. In most cases, all students who want to enroll in or audit this course are welcome. If you want to enroll in this course, you may ask for a registration code from the instructor at the end of the first lecture.

Basic information

Instructor
  • Ling-Chieh Kung (孔令傑)
  • E-mail: lckung(AT)ntu.edu.tw
  • Office: Room 413, Management Building II
  • Tel: 02-3366-1176.
Teaching assistants
  • Jack Chen (陳嘉豪). E-mail: r02725018(AT)ntu.edu.tw
  • Tim Chen (陳宗霆). E-mail: r02725052(AT)ntu.edu.tw
Meetings
  • Lectures (in ENGLISH):
    • 2:20-5:20pm, Thursday.
    • Room 201, Management Building II.
  • TA sessions (in CHINESE):
    • 12:30-1:10pm (NOT 1:20-2:10!), Monday.
    • The large computer classroom, Management Building I.
Office hour
  • Instructor's office hour:
    • 5:30-6:00pm, Thursday and 4:30-6:00pm, Friday.
    • Room 413, Management Building II.
  • TAs' office hour:
    • 1:10am-1:40pm, Monday.
    • The large computer classroom, Management Building I.
Prerequisites
  • Calculus: "Calculus I" and "Calculus II" in the IM department, or equivalent.
  • Linear Algebra: "Management Mathematics" in the IM department, or equivalent.
  • Probability: "Statistics I" in the IM department, or equivalent.
  • Economics: "Economics" in the IM department, or equivalent.
Textbook
  • Introduction to Operations Research by F. S. Hillier and G. J. Lieberman, Ninth edition, McGraw Hill.
    臺灣代理: 東華書局/新月圖書, (02) 2311-4027.
References
  • Management Science Modeling by S. C. Albright and W. L. Winston.
  • Operations Research: Applications and Algorithms by W. L. Winston.
  • Game Theory for Applied Economists by R. Gibbons.
  • 管理科學：作業研究與電腦應用 by 陳文賢 and 陳靜枝.
On-line resources
  • To check grades: CEIBA.
  • To download or link to materials: This website.
  • To discuss: the bulletin board "NTUIM-lckung" on PTT.

Syllabus

For topics, grading, policies, and a tentative schedule, please see the Syllabus.

Important Dates

Week Date Special Event
12013/2/17No TA session
12013/2/20The first lecture
32013/3/3TA session: MS Excel Solver (in English)
72013/3/31TA session: AMPL (in English)
72013/4/3No class: spring recess
122013/5/8Midterm exam
172013/6/12Final project presentations
182013/6/19Final exam

Lecture and lab materials

For each week, the lab materials are those used in the next Monday. In other words, lab materials are posted to match "Topic", not "Week".

Week Topic Lecture Video Lab
1 Overview Slides N/A Slides
2 Linear Programming Slides Playlist Materials (including MS Excel Solver)
3 The simplex method (1) Slides Playlist Slides
4 The simplex method (2) Slides Playlist Slides
5 LP duality Slides Playlist Slides
6 Integer Programming Slides N/A Materials (including AMPL)
7 (Spring recess) N/A N/A N/A
8 Network flow models Slides Playlist (No lab hereafter)
9 Nonlinear Programming (1) Slides Playlist N/A
10 Inventory Theory Slides Playlist N/A
11 Nonlinear Programming (2) Slides Playlist N/A
12 (Midterm Exam) N/A N/A N/A
13 Game Theory (1) Slides N/A N/A
14 Game Theory (2) Slides Playlist N/A
15 Supply Chain Management Slides N/A N/A
16 (Guest Talks and Summary) Schedule N/A Note: Talks will be given in Chinese
17 (Final Project Presentation) N/A N/A
18 (Final Exam) N/A N/A

Here is the seat map of Room 201, Management Building II. Seats labeled as A, B, ..., T are available to the 20 teams in the first-come-first-serve manner.

Homework

Problems Solution
Homework 1 Solution
Homework 2 Solution
Homework 3 Solution
Homework 4 Solution
Homework 5 Solution
Homework 6 Solution
Homework 7 Solution
Homework 8 Solution
Homework 9 Solution
Homework 10 Solution

Case assignments

Problems Solution
Case assignment 1 Solution
Case assignment 2
Case assignment 3 Solution
Case assignment 4

Here are my suggestions for formatting your reports.

Final project

Here is the description of the final project.

Here are the students' comments for the presentations.

Exams

Date Problems Solutions
2013/5/8 Midterm problems Midterm solution
2013/6/19 Final problems Final solution