In this data-driven world, companies are often interested in knowing what is the "best" course of action, given the data. For example, manufacturers need to decide how many units of a product to produce given the estimated demand and raw material availability? Should they make all the products in-house or buy some from a third-party to meet the demand? Prescriptive Analytics is the branch of analytics that can provide answers to these questions. It is used for prescribing data-based decisions. The most important method in the prescriptive analytics toolbox is optimization. This course will introduce students to the basic principles of linear optimization for decision-making. Using practical examples, this course teaches how to convert a problem scenario into a mathematical model that can be solved to get the best business outcome. We will learn to identify decision variables, objective function, and constraints of a problem, and use them to formulate and solve an optimization problem using Excel solver and spreadsheet.
This course is part of the Analytics for Decision Making Specialization
Offered By
Analytics for Decision Making SpecializationUniversity of MinnesotaAbout this Course
Familiarity with Excel
Skills you will gain
- Analytics
- Linear Programming (LP)
- Mathematical Optimization
Familiarity with Excel
Offered by
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota is among the largest public research universities in the country, offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional students a multitude of opportunities for study and research. Located at the heart of one of the nation’s most vibrant, diverse metropolitan communities, students on the campuses in Minneapolis and St. Paul benefit from extensive partnerships with world-renowned health centers, international corporations, government agencies, and arts, nonprofit, and public service organizations.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Module 1: Introduction to Linear Programming
Prescriptive analytics is a part of business analytics that is aimed at prescribing solutions to decision problems. The most important modeling technique within prescriptive analytics is optimization. In this module, we will learn how to recognize contexts where it can be applied and get introduced to the basics of linear optimization.
Module 2: Solving Linear Programs
In order to solve linear optimization problems (i.e., linear programs), we can use graphical methods for basic example problems. For higher dimensional problems, we will use tools like Excel Solver later in the course. The benefit of using graphical methods is that it gives us an intuition into how these problems can be solved.
Module 3: Alternative Specifications & Special Cases in Linear Optimization
In this module we will explore what happens when the model parameters are changed. We will also look at special cases of linear optimization problems.
Module 4: Modeling & Solving Linear Problems in Excel
Having learned how to formulate linear optimization problem and the graphical methods for solving them, we are now going to start solving larger problems using Excel Solver. This module provides an overview of how to set up and solve these decision problems using Excel.
Reviews
- 5 stars75%
- 4 stars20%
- 1 star5%
TOP REVIEWS FROM OPTIMIZATION FOR DECISION MAKING
Good teaching style with step by step guidance. Thanks for the connecting high school math (that I learned many years ago) to real life context. I look forward to the next course.
It was an interesting refreshed for the most part and went very quickly. Could have used just a little more info on using Excel Solver. Thanks for the class!
There are a lot of examples to work through and learn from which I find helps make the material easier to learn.
Very insightful course. Love the detail explaination for solving simple LP problems.
About the Analytics for Decision Making Specialization
The field of analytics is typically built on four pillars: Descriptive Analytics, Predictive Analytics, Causal Analytics, and Prescriptive Analytics. Descriptive analytics (e.g., visualization, BI) deal with the exploration of data for patterns, predictive analytics (e.g., data mining, time-series forecasting) identifies what can happen next, causal modeling establishes causation, and prescriptive analytics help with formulating decisions. This specialization focuses on the Prescriptive Analytics (the final pillar). This specialization will review basic predictive modeling techniques that can be used to estimate values of relevant parameters, and then use optimization and simulation techniques to formulate decisions based on these parameter values and situational constraints. The specialization will teach how to model and solve decision-making problems using predictive models, linear optimization, and simulation methods.
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