The Science and Technology of Decision Making

We live to accomplish our objectives. Objective represents our dreams, goals, and ideals. According to the nature of the objective, we aim to either the highest level or the lowest level of objective. The first is called as maximization while the last is called as minimization. For example, we want to maximize our monthly revenues. We also want to minimize our time consumed in working a tedious job.

The world is full with parameters and variables. Parameters are things that remain constant; they are not for use to decide. Variables are things that we can control up to a certain degree. One variable is related to parameters and other variables by a set of constraints. These constraints limit our freedom in making decisions on variables. Let say, we cannot afford to purchase a jet plane because of our budget constraint. In this case, the price of the plane is a parameter and our decision to whether to puchase it or not is a variable.

In order to reach the objective, we need to manipulate variables in the presence of parameters and constraints. We need to choose specific values for variables that satisfy all constraints and maximize or minimize our objective, that is the optimal decision. The process to determine the optimal decision is called as decision making. We have the innate ability to intuitively make decisions. However, some problems demand systematic rational approaches for decision making far beyond human intuition.

Decision making is ubiquitous in our life. It appears from the simplest routine, such as choosing the shortest route from our apartments to our offices, to the complex engineering activity of designing a chemical plant with the most desirable economical profit. The science of decision making studies the theory and algorithms needed to answer the question of "How we systematically determine the optimal decision for a given problem?" Indeed, it is arguably one of the most fundamental questions in human civilization yet to be fully answered! The practice of applying the science of decision making in real life problems results in the technology of decision making. This technology comes in the form of tools and software that help us in making decisions.