Questions tagged [applications]
For questions asking for real-world applications of specific concepts.
44
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45
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12
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Are there any OR challenges that are similar to Kaggle's competitions?
I am looking for previous OR challenges.
My goal is :
Applying my knowledge while solving problems suggested in those competitions; and/or
If possible, reading solutions posted by participants.
I ...
- 2,907
39
votes
9
answers
6k
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What are the reasons OR industry projects fail?
You probably have done some OR projects within the industry or - if you are in academia - for the industry. I'm wondering if you've seen some patterns of why such projects fail (or at least do not ...
- 2,737
30
votes
17
answers
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Recommended books/materials for practical applications of Operations Research in industry
I have a Masters' degree in Mathematics. I've very fair understanding of methods and techniques of Operations Research. I am looking for a good book/material where I can see a lot of examples on Math ...
- 417
23
votes
9
answers
3k
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What are Operations Research applications for 'good causes'?
I am looking for applications of OR for good causes, possibly with some literature. I intend a good cause loosely defined in the sense that the scope is that of improving the well-being of others, e.g....
- 1,641
21
votes
8
answers
5k
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How to innovate in OR
I am a graduate student in OR and I want to build one or two independent projects that go beyond academic projects in my university. I would like to target average people and/or those in the industry ...
- 2,907
21
votes
9
answers
3k
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Applications of pure mathematics in operations research
This is a question that I've been thinking about for a while, as my background is mainly on pure mathematics.
From a few OR papers that I've looked at, I could identify some areas of pure mathematics ...
- 5,341
20
votes
1
answer
462
views
Usages of logarithmic mean in optimization
I have recently learned about the logarithmic mean
$$\frac{x-y}{\ln(x)-\ln(y)},\quad x,y > 0.$$
It is used a lot in chemical engineering optimization models e.g. see slide 15 of Developing ...
- 3,046
19
votes
7
answers
8k
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Are programming languages necessary/useful for operations research practitioner?
This semester I will start teaching Programming in Python to Master students in Supply Chain Management.
I would like to start the first lesson with "Why learning programming languages will be useful ...
- 299
18
votes
8
answers
899
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Deploying OR solutions and shipping projects
My background is a bachelor in mathematics. I learned basics OR on my own using the following :
Introduction to Operations Research by F. Hillier and G. Lieberman
Integer programming by l. Wolsey
How ...
- 181
17
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Application of complex numbers in Linear Programming?
The theory surrounding Linear Programming is based on variables, bounds and coefficients that take on values in $\mathbb R$, the set of real numbers.
I have long wondered whether there might be ...
- 540
17
votes
2
answers
801
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Are there any real-world problems where quadratization helps to solve something that couldn't have been solved without quadratization?
The closest thing I know is the computer vision problem, in which an image is de-blurred and/or de-noised by quadratizing a quartic problem into a quadratic optimization problem (QUBO) and then the ...
- 1,268
16
votes
4
answers
3k
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What are the most-used technical skills in OR?
Apart from:
modeling, "coding" the model and using an open source/commercial solver
Implementing an approximation method (metaheuristics, greedy, etc.)
Implementing exact methods (dynamic ...
- 943
15
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Case Studies and Real Problems for Teaching Optimization and Modelling
It is that dreadful time of the year when I am prepping classes and over the last few terms I came to the realization that I need to significantly beef up the practice-oriented content of my lectures. ...
- 1,333
14
votes
5
answers
1k
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Is Hillier F. Introductory to Operations Research a good book for a data analyst interested in Operation Research field?
Is Hillier F. Introduction to Operations Research a good book for a data analyst? I was particularly interested in Operations Research especially when I was reading about the history about this area:
...
- 404
13
votes
7
answers
954
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What are the examples (applications) of the MIPs in which the objective function has nonzero coefficients for only continuous variables?
I'm specifically looking for real applications of the following form of MIP:
$$\max\,Cx$$
subject to:
\begin{align}Ax +By &= D\\Ax &= E\\By &= F\\ x &\ge 0\\ y &\in \mathbb{...
- 400
13
votes
5
answers
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What are technologies or libraries which greatly improve the speed or ease of use for delivering of OR software?
There are many great technologies/libraries out there to improve the speed and quality of implementing and deploying OR applications. However in my experience I "stumbled" upon many of them ...
- 3,635
13
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4
answers
2k
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Is there a SQL/English like language that lets you define formulations given some data?
It would be very useful for beginning and non technical users to be able to define models in a way that was natural for them. Further this could perhaps assist generating some kind of generic ...
- 1,069
12
votes
3
answers
971
views
How to choose an architecture for an OR web app and how to learn the tech stack associated?
After carefully reading the answers to my previous post I decided to opt for developing and deploying an app as a web service.
I watched a talk on optimization apps. It suggests using the following ...
- 129
11
votes
6
answers
2k
views
How to read open-source code of a solver (Or-tools, OptaPlanner, Minotaur, etc.)?
I want to learn more about solvers by reading the code of some open-source projects such as MINOTAUR, Optaplanner and OR-Tools.
However, I am struggling. I don't know where to start from there are a ...
- 567
11
votes
2
answers
207
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Are there examples of spatially explicit MIP problems?
Disclosure: I am an MSc student in economics, but not an expert by any means in OR.
I am trying to model a spatial MIP problem of an invasive species similar to this academic paper, however, my ...
- 2,299
10
votes
5
answers
663
views
What is the state-of-art (in industry and academy) of this scheduling + routing problem?
I have a startup idea and I am coming from a CS background.
The startup tries to solve the following problem. A company having a set of employees that needs to visit several "customers" each ...
- 309
9
votes
2
answers
790
views
Softwares for Operations Research. Is Excel Outdated or Useless for the OR industry?
I am looking over for softwares recommendation in Introduction to Operations Research Hillier 11th, there are tens of options for learn and apply OR theory using software.
I normally check how much ...
- 404
9
votes
1
answer
215
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Operations Research Apps for everyday use
Since I am confined and I have some free time, I am looking for ideas of OR applications in everyday life. What I've seen so far are apps like solving VRP, Production planning etc. that are mostly ...
- 2,907
9
votes
1
answer
176
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Structural Optimization
Currently, I am working on a problem in which I need to use MILP to model equilibrium equations in a lightweight structure. Although this is an application based question, I wondered if there is a ...
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8
votes
3
answers
640
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Difference between "Online Optimization" and "Stochastic Optimization"/"Robust Optimization"?
I just came across the notion of Online optimization (I got a look on Wikipedia page and some other webpages), but it was not enough for me and I am looking for a more elaborated comparison, namely in ...
- 534
8
votes
1
answer
102
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Real-life timetabling problems in education
I am looking for papers/resources that deal with timetabling problems in education. I want the resources to cover as much information as possible:
I don't have enough contact with people who are ...
- 567
8
votes
1
answer
226
views
What are Operations Research applications for 'morally discussable causes'?
Out of curiosity, since I read this question What are Operations Research applications for 'good causes'? and thought it might be a good addition to it.
What are Operations Research ...
- 3,635
7
votes
3
answers
344
views
TSPs and VRPs in real world
I have a CS background, I took some optional courses in Optimization.
I stumbled upon classic transport problems like TSP and VRP.
Maybe I am not familiar with the domain, but I think that there aren'...
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7
votes
1
answer
130
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Design choices on how to implement several algorithms for the same problem
When one is interested in solving a problem but considering different objective functions the choice is easy, a class for problem, a class for solution and a class by algorithm then in the main ...
- 2,907
7
votes
1
answer
144
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Is there a real life application for the Bottleneck travelling salesman problem?
The bottleneck TSP tries to find a Hamiltonian circle which minimizes the longest edge. Is there any real world application for this for example in transportation?
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6
votes
1
answer
233
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How to cope with the rigidity of solutions?
Consider the following problem of Technician Routing and Scheduling Problem.
We have:
A set of customers where each customer needs the intervention of a technician to do some job. Each customer has a ...
- 309
6
votes
0
answers
85
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What are the top three applications (in terms of number of citations) of the "reverse search" algorithm of David Avis?
I can see that this algorithm is quite popular, and that one of the original papers now has 820 citations on Google Scholar. However, what are the most highly cited applications of it?
If in Google ...
- 1,268
5
votes
2
answers
446
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How to model bicycle sharing scheme?
One of the problems I have recently considered is the problem of rebalancing bicycle stations for bike-sharing schemes all over the world. It is not a secret that the demand for bikes across the city ...
- 231
5
votes
2
answers
345
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Bridge the gap between theory and practice in Integer Programming
I've finished Wolsey's book on Integer programming. It's a theoretic book.
I aim to learn how the ideas presented in the book can be applied to solve real-world non-academic problems.
I am looking ...
- 77
4
votes
2
answers
173
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VRP app as a Minimum Viable Product
In this post, Geoffrey De Smet and EhsanK pointed out the opportunities of VRP variants (e.g. mixed pick up and deliveries).
If I want to build a Minimum Viable Product (software as a service app). ...
- 943
4
votes
1
answer
112
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Business/industrial applications of the single machine scheduling problem
There is a lot of resources talking about the applications of scheduling in business in general.
I would like to know about the applications of the particular case of single machine scheduling.
Any ...
- 943
3
votes
1
answer
758
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Are there applications of OR in art?
As the title says, I was wondering if there are applications of optimization in art.
I am mainly thinking about visual arts e.g., painting, drawing, sculpture, but any other form of art would be ...
- 1,641
3
votes
1
answer
155
views
Robust/Stochastic optimization deployed in real-world systems/applications
In an applied project we are working on currently, we want to use robust or stochastic programming in order to enhance the performance of the systems (by reference to certain metrics). As you may ...
- 534
3
votes
1
answer
117
views
How to evalute the quality of a solver (beyond solution quality and time efficiency)?
I built a solver for a classic scheduling problem. It has some exact methods and some heuristics methods.
I want to judge the quality of the work beyond time efficiency and solution quality.
For ...
- 943
3
votes
0
answers
181
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What can traditional graph cut methods do well, that deep learning cannot?
I have been fascinated by the rise and fall of graph cut algorithms in recent years, which I described in this question: Was there something specific that caused graph cuts to lose popularity in the ...
- 1,268
3
votes
0
answers
92
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Combining Machine learning and Operations research on a scheduling problem
I am wondering if there is any attempts of combining OR and ML in the following way. Priority-based rules are widely used in Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problems.
Is there a way to train ...
- 567
2
votes
1
answer
57
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Averaging the averages with weights
An international company has offices in different countries. The company wants to look at the office expenditures on stationery across it's offices.
Because sourcing locations are different, similar ...
- 429
2
votes
0
answers
59
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Resources on the soft aspects of modelling
Usually, the modeling involves those steps :
Fuzzy Description ----(1)----> Clearer Description -----(2)-----> Mathematical model.
Of course, it's not linear and a lot of iteration and re-...
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1
vote
0
answers
70
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How to identify an MVP for house building?
I am trying to find a minimal viable product for house building company.
I don't know what are the commonly used constraints. Intuitively, I would say that:
There is a set of tasks. Each task has a ...
- 567