Suresh P. Sethi

Optimal Control Theory: Applications to Management Science and Economics Suresh P. Sethi 2nd ed. 2000 edition

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [417]-481) and index. Review Quotes: 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 UniversityTable of Contents: Preface to First Edition.- Preface to Second Edition.- What is Optimal Control Theory?.- The Maximum Principle: Continuous Time.- The Maximum Principle: Mixed Inequality Constraints.- The Maximum Principle: General Inequality Constraints.- Applications to Finance.- Applications to Production and Inventory.- Applications to Marketing.- The Maximum Principle: Discrete Time.- Maintenance and Replacement.- Applications to Natural Resources.- Economic Applications.- Differential Games, Distributed Systems, and Impulse Control.- Stochastic Optimal Control.- Solutions of Linear Differential Equations.- Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control Theory.- An Alternative Derivation of the Maximum Principle.- Special Topics in Optimal Control.- Answers to Selected Exercises.- Bibliography.- Index.- List of Figures.- List of Tables. Description for Sales People: Optimal control methods are used to determine the best ways to control a dynamic system. This book applies theoretical work to business management problems developed from the authors research and classroom instruction. The thoroughly revised new edition has been 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 incorporates new results that were not available in the first edition, as well as an expansion of the material on stochastic optimal control theory."Publisher Marketing: Optimal control methods are used to determine the best ways to control a dynamic system. This book applies theoretical work to business management problems developed from the authors' research and classroom instruction. It also includes chapters that cover topics such as: finance, production and inventory problems, and marketing problems.