Some Thoughts on Optimization

"All models are wrong, but some are useful." - G.E.P. Box (1979), Robustness in Statistics.

"Operations research is the art of giving bad answers to problems to which otherwise worse answers are given." - T.L. Saaty (1959), Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, p. 3.

"What would life be without arithmetic, but a scene of horrors." - Revd. Sydney Smith, 1835.

"It is the mark of modern society that decision must often be made under circumstances characterized by novel conditions, limited resources, conflicting goals, expensive experimentation, complex organizations, uncertainty, and short lead times. Operations research is a field of study explicitly devoted to aiding decision makers under such circumstances." - Paul Jensen

"The adoption of operations research calls for an act of faith in the potential benefits of a systematic approach to decision-making." - Harvey Wagner (1975), Principles of Operations Research.

"Even when quantitative analysis is of central importance for a managerial decision process, an operations-research-oriented system never supplies all the information required for action, no matter how sophisticated the system's design. Furthermore, a truly successful implementation of an operations research system must apply behavioral as well as mathematical science, because the resultant system must interact with human beings. And finally, the very process of constructing an operations research system involves the exercise of judgement in addition to the logical manipulation of symbols and data." - Harvey Wagner (1975), Principles of Operations Research.

"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien."  The best is the enemy of the good. - Voltaire

A great craftsman does not put aside the plumb-line for the benefit of a clumsy carpenter. - Mencius (China, c. 300 B.C., Book VII, Part A, 41)

"Life must be lived forwards, but it can only be understood backwards" - Soren Kierkegaard

"A man's gotta know his limitations." - Clint Eastwood

"A problem well put is a problem half solved." - Anon.

"Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all." - Charles Babbage

"They always bury [treasure] under a haunted house, or on an island, or under a dead tree that's got one limb sticking out."  "Well, we've tried Jackson Island a little, and we can try it again some time; and there's lots of dead-limb trees - dead loads of em.  Is it under all of them?"   "How you talk! No!"  "Then how you going to know which one to go for?"  "Go for all of em."  "Why, Tom, it'll take all summer." - Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876.