Course Syllabus

Course Description

Operations Research is a science of modeling and optimization. It allows you to model real-world problems by using mathematics, statistics, and computers. It provides you tools and theories to solve these real-world problems by finding the optimal solutions to the models subject to constraints of time, labor, resource, material, and business rules. With Operations Research, people make intelligent decisions to develop and manage their processes and businesses.

Operations Research is composed of the following five areas:

• Linear programming
• Nonlinear programming
• Dynamic programming
• Stochastic modeling and simulation
• Dynamical systems

These five areas define various theories and techniques for modeling real-world problems and methods to find their optimal solutions.

Prerequisites: Math, Calculus, Statistics, Probability, Computer Programming, Microsoft Excel.

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Course Objectives

This course is for students new to the topics of Operations Research. The course emphasizes the application of Operations Research for solving business problems. Throughout this course, students are expected to know and understand common and important business problems. Students will develop problem modeling and solving skills and learn how to make intelligent business decisions from the point of view of optimization.

This course covers introductory material of the following topics

• Mathematical and computational modeling
• Optimization
• Linear, nonlinear, and integer programming
• Network programming
• Computer simulation
• Queuing
• Time-series analysis
• Applications in engineering, science, economics, and management

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Textbook, Lecture Note, and Reference

• Textbook: Practical Management Science: Spreadsheet Modeling and Applications, 2nd Ed. Wayne L. Winston, S. Christian Albright, Mark Broadie, Chris Albright. Duxbury Press. September, 1997. ISBN 0534217745.
• Lecture Note: http://mcu.edu.tw/~ychen.
• References: Introduction to Operations Research, 7th. Ed. Frederick Hillier. December, 2000. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0071181636.

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Instructor Information

Y.-H. Chen, Ph.D., ychen@mcu.edu.tw, S644, Tel: 03-350-7001 ext.3444.
Office hours: MON (S644): 12PM~1PM, TUE (Q521): 8AM~9AM and 12PM~2PM, WED (S644): 8AM~9AM, 12PM~1PM, or by appointments.

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Grade

Overall grade distribution

Category	Percentage
Quiz	30%
Mid-term exam	30%
Final Exam	40%
Attendance & Bonus	5%

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Academic and Professional Conduct

Students have a responsibility to maintain both the academic and professional integrity of the University and to meet the highest standards of academic and professional conduct. Students are expected to do their own work on examinations, class participation and assignments, and to conduct themselves professionally when interacting with fellow students, faculty, and staff. Students must also make equitable contributions to both the quality and quantity of work performed on group projects.

Academic and/or professional misconduct is subject to disciplinary action including being placed on probation, failing a graded course component, failing a course or being dismissed. Student academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

• Examination: Using unauthorized notes, looking at another student's test paper; or providing another student with answers during an examination.
• Course Assignments/Projects: Unless a course assignment is specifically designated as a group/team project, collaborating with another student to complete assignments intended to be completed independently or submitting another student's work as your own.
• Research Reports: plagiarizing (using another person's ideas, words, expressions, or findings in your writing without acknowledging the source).

Professional misconduct includes, but is not limited to, displaying disruptive behavior; using offensive language in the classroom or to faculty, staff and/or other students; bribing or threatening faculty, staff, and/or other students; falsifying student records; and attempting to improperly influence instructors or School officials.

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Ground Rules

Attendance and Classroom

1. All cellure phones and pages must be set to silent or vibration mode throughout the the time of the class.
2. Students are expected to attend all classes.
3. If a student chooses to skip a class, it is customary to inform the instructor in advance.
4. If a student chooses to skip some classes, it is student's responsibility to make up missed classes.
5. No textbook copy material unless approved by the instructor.
6. No food, drink, and shoes, if the class is offered in a computer room.

Assignment and Examination

1.      If homework assignments are to be collected, they must be turned in when the class begins on the day when the assignments are due. Students are allowed to submit their homework and reports using any of the following methods: emails, campus mails, post office mails, express deliveries, office drop-ins, and deliveries made by classmates or through office secretaries. The submitted work has to be received before or on the requested due dates. Acknowledgement of receiving any submitted documents from the instructor is absolutely necessary.

2.      Read corresponding chapters and course material before class meets. You may discuss your homework assignments with others but make sure that you complete the assignments independently.

3.      Examinations will be closed book and close notes. Total examination time is 3 hours (80 minutes, if the examination is part of a campus-wide examination). You are allowed to use calculators for the exam. You may not use personal laptop computers, palmtop computers, or Center's lab computers to take and/or write the exam.

4.      Complicated mathematical formulas will be provided during an exam. Please use them appropriately. If you need a formula that is not provided in the exam, you are welcomed to ask for it during an exam. But, no credit will be given, if you need it but do not ask for it during an exam.

5.      You are required to show how you arrive at your answers, recording intermediate steps and calculations wherever appropriate. The write-up of computation logic and steps is required, even if you use a calculator to help you do the computation. Answers need to be readable and in correct sequence.

6.      Write down your answers on one side of a paper. Do not write them on both sides of a paper. Assignment and exam papers need to be properly stapled, if there are multiple pages.

7.      No makeup exams will be given for missed exams. Students who will miss an exam due to severe sickness, accidents, or work-related travel must present proof of sickness, accidents, or business travel and receive a written permission from the instructor and the University before the scheduled date of the exam. Make-up exams for these special conditions are administrated based on the availability of School resource. Missed exams due to unpredicted reasons require prompt notification and can be taken on the scheduled make-up exam date. No additional make-up exam will be provided, if students do not show up for the first 10 minutes of the make-up exam.

8.      Any advanced or prompt notification to the instructor requires the acknowledgement of the instructor. The notification is considered invalid without the acknowledgement.

Grading

1. No credit is given, if any of the following is observed:
1. No answers.
2. Wrong answers.
3. Answers without correct explanation, if explanation is requested by the problem.
4. Answers without correct computation being carried out, if the computation is required to get the answers.
5. Answers written on the back of a paper.
6. Answers not following a problem statement (written on locations not directly related to the problem).
7. Wrong answers, even if the formula used is correct.
8. Wrong answers as a result of wrong computation.
9. Wrong answers to the problems, even if these problems are dependent on each other.
2. No grade discussion is allowed during the class. Class time is not office hours. If a student has grading issue, please contact the instructor during breaks and appointments.
3. An incomplete (IN) is granted only in exceptional situations, such as when illness or work-related travel is documented and when substantial course requirements have already been completed. Students must secure approval to receive an IN from the instructor and the University before the regularly scheduled final examination.

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**NOTE***

This syllabus is subject to change during the semester. If it is changed, you will be notified via our course announcement. You may then print a copy of the revised syllabus for your files.