Mathematical Models for Decision Making with Multiple Perspectives

<p>This book brings together in a single volume the fields of multicriteria decision making and multiobjective optimization that are traditionally covered separately. Both fields have in common the presence of multiple perspectives of looking at and evaluating decisions to be taken but they differ in the number of available alternatives. Multicriteria approaches deal with decision processes where a finite number of alternatives have to be evaluated while in multiobjective optimization this number is infinite and the space of alternatives continuous. This book is written for students of applied mathematics engineering and economics and management with no assumed previous knowledge on the subject as well as for practitioners in industry looking for techniques to support decision making. The mathematical formalism is very low so that all materials are accessible to most readers. Nonetheless a rich bibliography allows interested readers to access more technical literature.</p><p>The textbook is organized in eleven chapters each corresponding to a class of about two hours. A comprehensive set of examples is presented allowing for a didactic approach when presenting the methodologies. Each chapter ends with exercises that are designed to develop problem-solving skills and to promote concepts retention. </p>