Optimal Control Theory: Applications to Management Science and Economics - Hardcover

Sethi, Suresh P.; Thompson, Gerald L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0792386086 ISBN 13: 9780792386087

Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000

Synopsis

Optimal control methods are used to determine optimal ways to control a dynamic system. The theoretical work in this field serves as a foundation for the book, which the authors have applied to business management problems developed from their research and classroom instruction.

Sethi and Thompson have provided management science and economics communities with a thoroughly revised edition of their classic text on Optimal Control Theory. The new edition has been completely refined with careful attention to the text and graphic material presentation. Chapters cover a range of topics including finance, production and inventory problems, marketing problems, machine maintenance and replacement, problems of optimal consumption of natural resources, and applications of control theory to economics. The book contains new results that were not available when the first edition was published, as well as an expansion of the material on stochastic optimal control theory.

About this title

Review

`Like the first edition, Sethi and Thompson's revised textbook advances the state of the art of operations research and management science on multiple dimensions. The authors provide a rigorous treatment of a powerful methodology. They demonstrate the deep managerial insights to be obtained in a variety of management and economics domains. The book facilitates learning in the classroom and encourages readers' creativity. The clarity in exposition makes the book accessible to diverse readers, including mathematicians interested in learning about applications and researchers in various application domains interested in developing new managerial results.
This is a very good textbook for subjects on optimal controls with management science applications. I have adopted this as a textbook and the students love it. Illustrative figures and diagrams are sufficiently provided, and materials are carefully explained. The use of the commonly available Excel program to solve TPBVPs at the end of chapter 2 is suitable for the ever increasing demand of "multimedia teaching". I have not seen any other optimal control textbook include such a set of Excel instructions in such a simple and elegant way. Moreover, the authors made a set of chapter-by-chapter Power Point files available on the web to supplement the textbook for classroom teaching. I'd give 5 stars to this book anytime.'
Joseph Lee, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Synopsis

Sethi and Thompson have provided management science and economics communities with a thoroughly revised edition of their classic text on Optimal Control Theory. Central to the book is its extraordinarily wide range of optimal control theory applications. Chapter 5 covers finance; Chapter 6 considers production and inventory problems; Chapter 7 covers marketing problems; Chapter 9 treats machine maintenance and replacement; Chapter 10 deals with problems of optimal consumption of natural resources (renewable or exhaustible); and Chapter 11 discusses a number of applications of control theory to economics. The book has been successfully used as a professional reference tool and as a graduate course book. Its usefulness lies in its emphasis on building applied models of realistic problems faced in a variety of business management situations. The new edition has been completely refined with careful attention to the text and graphic material presentation. In Chapter 3, models have been added that use mixed (control and state) constraints, current value formulations, and terminal conditions.

Chapter 4 now covers more advanced material on pure state constraints as they relate to mixed constraints. Each of these chapters contains new results that were not available when the first edition was published. Another important change is the expansion of the material on stochastic optimal control theory, which has become the new Chapter 13. This new chapter provides a brief introduction to stochastic optimal control problems, and it contains formulations of simple stochastic models in production, marketing and finance, and their solutions. Optimal control methods are used to determine optimal ways to control a dynamic system. The theoretical work in this field serves as a foundation for the book, which the authors have applied to business management problems developed from their research and classroom instruction.

Edition details

• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0792386086
• ISBN 13: 9780792386087
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 506