IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orinte/v4y1973i1p32-39.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Novena to St. Jude, or Four Edifying Case Studies in Mathematical Programming

Author

Listed:
  • Robert E. D. Woolsey

    (Institute for Operations Research, Colorado School of Mines)

Abstract

In this author's opinion, the two most basic reasons for failure in the field of mathematical programming have nothing to do with modeling ability or technical expertise. The two reasons are: (1) Failure because the modeler does not realize that the method (mathematical programming) is a means to an end (the problem) rather than an end in itself, and (2) Failure because a wrong answer is extrapolated from what appears to be the right method. The case studies here have been selected because they seem to exemplify these two reasons rather well. Two were problems in which this author was personally involved; therefore the models have been altered somewhat to preserve the innocent (and the guilty) from the sneers of their fellow workers (who would, of course, never do anything like what is presented here). The other two case studies have been repeated to this author in various bars at various O.R. conventions for some years. The only thing the author has contributed in these cases is the considerable time it took to find out what really happened.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert E. D. Woolsey, 1973. "A Novena to St. Jude, or Four Edifying Case Studies in Mathematical Programming," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 4(1), pages 32-39, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:4:y:1973:i:1:p:32-39
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.4.1.32
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.4.1.32
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/inte.4.1.32?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael F. Gorman, 2016. "From Magnum Opus to Mea Culpa: A Cautionary Tale of Lessons Learned from a Failed Decision Support System," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 183-195, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:4:y:1973:i:1:p:32-39. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.