No label defined (Q4427313)

Unabridged republication of the textbook first published in 1982 (not reviewed in Zbl), designed for those who seek an acquaintance with dynamic programming. The text is divided into 8 chapters and 2 supplements. Chapter 1 is an introduction to sequential decision processes, Chapter 2 studies one simple sequential decision process, namely the shortest-route problem. A dynamic programming approach to models of resource allocation is contained in Chapter 3. Chapters 4 and 5 apply dynamic programming to some control problems. Chapter 4 investigates methods for approximating solutions to control problems in continuous time and Chapter 5 focuses on studying production control with a special emphasis on economies of scale and on diseconomies of scale. Decision making with uncertain future is studied in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 is devoted to the application of dynamic programming to inventory control. A discounted Markov decision model with infinite horizon is studied in Chapter 8. Supplement 1 is devoted to various ways of organizing data and Supplement 2 contains some important properties of convex functions. At the end of each chapter the reader will find exercises to the material presented in the corresponding chapter.