I COURSE OBJECTIVES: [Go to the Top]

The major objective of this course is to instill in the student the increasingly important role of quantitative methods in solving managerial problems. Knowledge of various techniques discussed in this course will assist a current or future, manager, not only in decision making, but also in communicating with specialists, such as statisticians, management scientists, systems analysts, etc.

The specific course objectives are five-fold:

1. To achieve an understanding of applied statistical and other quantitative methods in the solution of managerial decision making problems.

2. To provide enough illustrations of well-known models, so that a student can identify similar situations which may utilize quantitative methods.

3. To develop a basic proficiency in working with the more frequent decision making models.

4. To learn the mathematical language and notation, in order to facilitate communication with specialists.

5. To develop sufficient quantitative preparation for appreciating work done in this area.

II INSTRUCTOR CONTACT: [Go to the Top]

Dr. Rajen K. Tibrewala 516-626-2116

School of Management tibrewala@nyit.edu

New York Institute of Technology

Old Westbury, New York 11568.

III COMMUNICATION WITH THE INSTRUCTOR: [Go to the Top]

There are several ways for you to communicate with me.

Open Discussion forum: I will be creating different discussion categories or threads in the discussion forum. Please use the discussion forum to ask any questions relating to the course. All questions of general interest should be posted here.

Private Discussion Forum: I have created a group named as your last name, which has just you and I as members. For private questions, homework and application pack assignments, please use this forum. Only you and I will be able to access it.

My E-Mail: Please try to avoid using my e-mail for any thing related to this course. If you have a personal issue, not related to this course, feel free to use my E-Mail.

Digital Drop Box: For mid-term and final exams please use the digital drop box.

Net Meeting: I will be holding office hours on Sundays at 12:30 pm for about one hour. You will be able to ask me questions in a chat mode and I will be answering your questions using white board, or video, or audio, or document. For example, I can teach you slowly the construction of formulas within Excel. If you have Windows 2000 or XP, then Net Meeting is already there on your desk top, otherwise you can download for free. Click on the link below to learn more about Net Meeting.

http://www.tibrewala.net/netmeetingsetup.htm

IV TEXTBOOK: [Go to the Top]

Quantitative Analysis for Management, Render & Stair; Prentice Hall.

Eighth Edition, ISBN 0-13-066952-0

The text selected for this course gives an overview of most of the concepts covered in this course. It also contains a CD-ROM and a web site supported by the publisher.

www.prenhall.com/render

V MICROCOMPUTER SOFTWARE: [Go to the Top]

The CD-ROM included with the book contains a set of software modules (QM for Windows and Crystal Ball) and spreadsheets (EXCEL-QM) to solve several of the assigned quantitative homework problems. Each student must learn to solve the problems manually using a calculator, using Excel, and with the use of the software.

VI REQUIRED READINGS

Wall Street Journal and Business Week.

VII COURSE REQUIREMENTS [Go to the Top]

During this course you will be required to participate in the class, take two examinations, and submit several assignments. Grades in this course will be determined as follows:

· Mid-term Examination 30%

· Final Examination 30%

· Web Assignments 10%

· Application Pack Assignments 10%

· Home Work Assignments 20%

· Class participation (A bonus of up to 10% may be awarded at the sole discretion of the instructor)

Examinations

The dates and the time of the tests will be announced and the students will be required to complete the tests within the time limit. The most likely date and time will be on Sunday Morning about 11:30 AM at the end of week 7 and at the end of week 15. Please make sure that that you do not have any conflicts. Depending on the material covered, you will have a time limit of two to three hours.

Web Assignments [Go to the Top]

You are required to do the Web Assignments for chapters 1, 1s, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, and 15 of the textbook. These assignments constitute the main body of the course and each student must complete the Web Assignment before the deadlines as shown in course topics for each unit. A typical Web Assignment will consist of going to the Prentice Hall Web Site for the textbook and doing all the tasks specified in the left-hand navigation column of the chapter. This will involve taking a multiple-choice quiz, answering short essay questions, filling in the blanks, matching, labeling, and true/false questions. For example, clicking on the following link takes you to the Study Guide for Chapter 1s.

http://myphlip.pearsoncmg.com/cw/mpchapter.cfm?vbcid=5293

This particular chapter has only five of six possible items. Note that unit 1 consists of chapter 1 and chapter 1s. Chapter 1 also has five items. You are therefore required to do these ten tasks before the deadline for Unit 1. You can keep doing these tasks until you are satisfied and you can refer to your textbook or your CD-ROM while answering these questions. The Prentice Hall web site allows you to grade your answers and then send the results to the instructor. The instructor e-mail address should be written as quant605@nyit.edu not my personal e-mail address. You should register as a student at that site and have your grades e-mailed to quant605@nyit.edu. Please do not mail the Web Assignments to my e-mail address or to the digital drop box or to the course discussion. The Web Assignment grades submitted to NYIT server by Prentice Hall server are recorded automatically and I will not be able to give you individual response. For safety, you can also ask the Prentice Hall server to e-mail you a copy of what is being sent to me. The major criteria used for grading the assignments will be timeliness and completeness. I will ignore any web assignments sent to any other address. Each of you will be sending about 55 web assignments during the semester. Please do not ask me if I have received your web assignments. If you follow directions, it will get to me.

Application Pack Assignments [Go to the Top]

An application package showing four extensive cases using Excel has been prepared to help you in understanding both the concepts of decision-making and developing Excel based solutions. You are required to complete four Application Pack assignments.

Application Pack 1 – Decision Making – Unit 2 – Due February 9, 11:59 PM

Application Pack 2 – Inventory Models – Unit 3 – Due February 16, 11:59 PM

Application Pack 3 – Simulation Case 1 – Unit 4 – Due March 2, 11:59 PM

Application Pack 4 – Simulation Case 2 – Unit 4– Due March 9, 11:59 PM

The Application Pack assignments should be submitted by the due date in your private group forum. Do not post your solutions in the general class discussion forum or send them to me by e-mail.

Homework Assignments

You will be required to do eight homework assignments during the course. These assignments will be posted at least two weeks before the deadline. I strongly encourage you to ask questions on the general forum relating to the reading material and homework assignments. I am usually very prompt in answering the questions. Late assignments will not earn any credit. You need to post the assignments in your private group forum. I will post the solutions after the dead line and I again, strongly encourage you to ask questions about the material.

Class Participation

This entire course is based on practical applications. Every topic studied by us can be used to solve real problems occurring within the company you are working for. Many students add immensely to the learning process by sharing specific application of these topics to their own jobs. Many other students add value to the class by always identifying the difficult to understand concepts and asking key questions on the forum about each topic in a timely manner. You are required to log in at least three times each week but to earn the class participation points, you must add some value to the discussion.

VIII COURSE SCHEDULE: [Go to the Top]

UNIT 1: Introduction to Mathematical Modeling (Week 1)

· Concept of decision variables, uncontrollable variables, objective function, and constraints.

· Steps required in modeling.

· Concept of sub-optimization.

· Classification of decision-making problems.

· Decision making under certainty - a deterministic inventory problem.

· Decision making under uncertainty.

· Decision making under competition - a game theory problem.

Reading assignment for Unit 1 - Chapter 1 and 1s of the text

Web Assignment Deadline for (Chap 1 &1s) – 11:59 PM Sunday, February 2, 2003.

UNIT 2: Probability Applications and Decision Theory (Week 2 &3)

· Probability Distributions

· Normal, Poisson, and Exponential Distributions

· Expected value criteria.

· Max min profit and min max cost criteria.

· Min max regret criteria.

· Marginal analysis.

Reading assignment for Unit 2 – Chapters 2 & 3 of the text.

Web Assignment Deadline for (Chap 2 & 3) – 11:59 PM Sunday, February 9, 2003.

Application Pack #1 Deadline – 11:59 PM Sunday, February 9, 2003.

UNIT 3: Inventory Models (Week 4)

· Deterministic inventory models.

· Probabilistic inventory models.

Reading assignment for Unit 3 - Chapters 6 of the text.

Web Assignment Deadline for (Chap 6) – 11:59 PM Sunday, February 16, 2003.

Application Pack #2 Deadline – 11:59 PM Sunday, February 16, 2003.

UNIT 4: Simulation (Week 5 & 6)

· Monte Carlo simulation.

· Flow-charting and bookkeeping.

· Analytical procedures vs. simulation.

· Common applications.

· Simulation languages.

Reading assignment for Unit 6 - Chapter 15 of the text.

Web Assignment Deadline for (Chap 15) – 11:59 PM Sunday, February 23, 2003.

Application Pack #3 Deadline – 11:59 PM Sunday, February 23, 2003.

Application Pack #4 Deadline – 11:59 PM Sunday, March 9, 2003.

Mid-term Examination -- Sunday March 16, 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM (Week 7)

SPRING BREAK

UNIT 5: Linear Programming (Week 8 ,9 &10)

· Setting up the problem.

· Graphical solution to the problem.

· Using the computer to solve the problem.

· Dual prices.

· Network Models.

Reading assignment for Unit 5 - Chapters 7, 8 and 12 of the text.

Web Assignment Deadline for (Chap 7,8 &12) – 11:59 PM Sunday, April 6, 2003

UNIT 6: Waiting Line Applications (Week 11)

· Queuing System Parameters

· Performance Measures

· Modeling and applications.

· Single Channel Models

· Multi-Channel Models.

Reading assignment for Unit 6 - Chapter 14 of the text.

Web Assignment Deadline for (Chap 14) – 11:59 PM Sunday, April 13, 2003

UNIT 7: Forecasting and Regression (Week 12 & 13)

· Regression analysis.

· Correlation analysis.

· Modeling and applications.

· Forecasting.

· Time series analysis.

Reading assignment for Unit 7 - Chapter 5 of the text.

Web Assignment Deadline for (Chap 5) – 11:59 PM Sunday, April 27, 2003

REVIEW OF MATERIALS (Week 14)

Final Examination -- Sunday May 11, 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM Week 15)

IX TIME COMMITMENT

In a conventional course a student is required to attend three hours of class and spend about six to nine hours each week outside the class. You should plan to spend about nine to twelve hours each week on this course. If your current job, current course load, family, or other commitments do not permit you to spend this much time over the next 15 weeks, please do not start the course.

X TIPS ON DOING WELL [Go to the Top]

The best approach for doing well is to first review my e-lecture and then study the chapter from the textbook. Pay extra attention to solved problems and take the self-test. Go to the web site and complete the required exercises. Try to solve the homework problems and ask me questions on the discussion forum or during my net office hour. After, I post the solutions; go over the assignment again to learn the material completely.

XI GRADING POLICY

A grade of A, B, C, D, or F, will be issued based upon your projects and tests. ‘W’ can only be issued if the student has a passing grade at the time the request is made. A grade of ‘I’ will only be issued in case a student with a passing grade cannot complete a small portion of the course due to a real emergency, e.g. hospitalization. Missing a test or delay in submitting assignments will lead to a score of zero for that test or assignment. Instructor has a right to issue a W to a passing student for excessive absences.

Many online students think that “no one is watching” and they can cheat without being caught. Please note that there are several ways to detect if you are cheating. Any you are found cheating in homework assignments or examination, you will be given a grade of F for this course and an honor code violation will be recorded in the your permanent student transcript within NYIT.

XII COURSE DESCRIPTION: [Go to the Top]

The use of mathematical models in solving various problems in industry, government and business has grown very rapidly in the last four decades. Today, more and more universities have entire curricula in quantitative methods; and most large firms have departments of operations management, operations research, or management science. A course such as this, which emphasizes the quantitative methods in solving business problems, is an invaluable tool for a business student.

The use of quantitative methods in managerial decision-making requires that we go through the following four phases, either explicitly or implicitly.

1. Identification and Definition of the Problem

· Throughout this course students will be required to comprehend a case stated in a narrative, and then compile information in such a way that decision variables, uncontrollable variables, measure of effectiveness, and constraints (if any) could be defined explicitly.

2. Formulation or Modeling

· Having defined a problem explicitly and exactly, a mathematical model can then be prepared. While preparing a mathematical model, a student may discover that a problem seems to be of a standard kind; e.g. linear programming, deterministic or probabilistic inventory, etc. If this is the case, the mathematical model should be made to conform exactly to the applicable standard form.

3. Solution

· Many of the most frequently used techniques will be described in this course. The solution methodology for solving standard linear programming problems, assignment problems, deterministic and probabilistic inventory problems, decision tree problems, simulation, etc., will be discussed. A detailed list of topics appears later in this course outline.

4. Interpretation and Implementation

· Having solved the problem mathematically, the solution is translated back to the real life problem. Every practitioner of management science has to learn “how to communicate” so that other concerned persons in or out of the organization can understand and appreciate the results. A failure to communicate the results effectively is usually a major obstacle in the implementation of the solution.

· During this course, a student will be exposed to many cases and problems (both real life and hypothetical), which tend to illustrate each of these phases. Special emphasis will be given to the definition and formulation aspects, because these tend to teach the student ‘how to think’. After setting up the problems, a student will be required to use the computer for solving them.

· Furthermore, it is required that every student review the basic concepts of statistics and probability theory. We will be using various probability distributions extensively during this course. If a student does not have the prerequisite algebra and probability courses, or has completely forgotten the concepts of algebra and probability, he or she should take equivalent courses before taking this course.

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