# is OR right for me?

 1 I'm interested in pursuing studies of general problem solving. I'm particularly interested in writing general programs which can write specific programs for specific problems. I enjoy the idea that most if not all problems can be modeled as follows: There is some thing, defined as a list of predicates. It is either in a state that is wholly, partially, or not at all known. There are some list of transformations that change what predicates are in a state of accept or decline, or that change the vector value of these predicates, via some ruleset that is either partially, wholly, or not at all known. The goal of the problem is to take the thing from its state to some other state(either wholly or partially defined, or with maximization in mind) using some combination of transformations. Is OR a good field for me given my interests and preference for general modeling and solving? If not, is there a field you can recommend. asked 12 May '15, 14:25 battlefrisk 39●1●4 accept rate: 0% I don't see how OR can be simply "right" or "wrong" for anyone. Do you have a decision you are trying to make? If you can ask a detailed question about a specific decision, you will be more likely to get some help. (15 May '15, 11:55) 4er I'm trying to decide between majors. Lets say I wanted to write a chess program without any prior experience with the game. Would I be better off if I had experience in OR OR computer science? (15 May '15, 13:27) battlefrisk 1 Your interests sound a lot more like some branch of computer science than anything common to OR. But in any case, for choosing a major it is a good idea to look closely at the experience that you would actually get from your major at the college or university where you are actually studying. (15 May '15, 22:16) 4er

 1 If you like and are (or can get) good at mathematical modeling and problem solving, and have an analytical bent, OR might be a good field for you. I don't understand all your predicate jazz, so I don't know what it does or could amount to in practice. But perhaps you'd be bringing a fresh perspective and tools to OR, which might have potential for making advances in the field. answered 12 May '15, 17:20 Mark L Stone 447●3●10 accept rate: 15% Is the work mostly in the business sector or do OR work in social engineering or physics based engineering at all? (12 May '15, 18:20) battlefrisk With an OR education , you could certainly work in any of those areas. You might find the work to be most exciting and interesting if it's not on well-trodden ground, i.e., boldly go where no (or not many) man (or woman) with your background and abilities has gone before. As an OR analyst, you can work as part of a team with subject matter experts in other areas, such as physics based engineering, and help to structure, formulate, and solve problems, based in part on information you're able to elicit from them, but they don't know how to use as profitably themselves as with your help. (12 May '15, 20:04) Mark L Stone
 0 I'm actually a drop out. Long story short, i picked a very difficult major for all the wrong reasons. When i couldn't skate through my upper divisions the way i did in my lower classes, i dropped out. After which i did some soul searching and figured out roughly what i actually want to do, but i haven't yet put a name to this "thing" which i seek to pursue. Hence why I'm inquiring about these different majors which seem to be related to my interest. answered 24 May '15, 16:02 battlefrisk 39●1●4 accept rate: 0% Keep on keeping on. It sounds like you've now attained a level of maturity which should serve you well in round 2. Hint: Unless you are extraordinarily gifted, don't pursue a path of Bachelors to Ph.D. studies in a mathematically intense field if you want to just "skate through". (24 May '15, 19:29) Mark L Stone "To drop out" is a verb, not a noun. Leave it in the past tense. You dropped out, and now you are looking for the next step. There are faculty at your school who really care (and some who really don't - you'll learn to tell the difference) and who can help you more than a forum can. You are on a long journey, and you will make plenty more mistakes. Being in the ballpark as far as topic helps, but it matters much more to take every class seriously and impress people with quality work. That is what will create the 2nd and 3rd chances you need to maximize the utility of your outcomes. (24 May '15, 19:37) Leo
 0 I don't intend to skate through. I actually intend to be ahead of all my classes from day one, since I will have one to two years of study before I even begin my bachelor's program. I actually don't mind using it as a noun to define myself (at this time). In a world where so many people miserably and thoughtlessly trudge through education because it's the beaten path, I think it's indicative of what makes me different in a good way. answered 25 May '15, 12:33 battlefrisk 39●1●4 accept rate: 0% I was impressed that a young man searching for ideas for their future reads discussions in this forum. In my opinion it is worth to hone their skills and exchange their views with people whose knowledge and experience is richer than ours. Unfortunately, this discussion requires a certain knowledge to be gotten in school. Good luck at learning. Referring to your last sentence - I have just saw a documentary HBO by Andrew Rossi with 2014, which addresses the issue of shape and cost of higher education, shocking. (25 May '15, 14:11) Slavko
 0 Thanks slavko! Yes it seems the monetary cost to benefit ratio of education is, for the most part, progressively moving in a negative direction. But as more and more jobs become automated and more and more people get degrees what are we to do? When I have a better understanding of the language of the field, I intend to utilize this site a lot. For now, I'm taking book recommendations here (https://www.or-exchange.org/questions/12345/introductory-text) if any of you are interested. answered 25 May '15, 15:54 battlefrisk 39●1●4 accept rate: 0% If you're a good self-learner, with the wealth of high quality, legal, and free material available online nowadays (including some excellent O.R. related textbooks, such as http://stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/bv_cvxbook.pdf and http://statweb.stanford.edu/~tibs/ElemStatLearn/printings/ESLII_print10.pdf ), all you need is an internet connection. So for the cost of a PC, internet connection (or go to the library), and electricity to run your PC, you can learn as much or more as at any school. How many people fall in this category? Not many. (25 May '15, 17:12) Mark L Stone By the way, although the books I linked in the preceding comment are excellent books, I think they will be too advanced for you at your current state. Nevertheless, go ahead and download them, and you can at least read the first several pages and skim through the rest to be aware of the fruits which await you. (25 May '15, 17:16) Mark L Stone The key word is a e-learning. The best universities offering interesting courses free of charge. As an example You can see: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm or http://web.mit.edu/15.053/www/AppliedMathematicalProgramming.pdf. (26 May '15, 03:08) Slavko
 0 alright so then your recommendations are linear algebra, analysis, and probability theory. Sounds like a good start. and I'm definitely gonna check out that Hillier and Lieberman book. Thanks guys, I think I'm all set now. answered 26 May '15, 13:05 battlefrisk 39●1●4 accept rate: 0% Well, that's my view, anyway. Good luck. (26 May '15, 14:47) Mark L Stone
 0 Your original description of the type of problems you are interested is very similar to what is being done in the field of Automated Planning. In fact most of your terms map on a similar concept in Automated Planning: predicates => state variables state => state state wholly, partially, or not at all known => (partial) observability, contingent planning transformations => actions ruleset => action conditions and effects goal is to take the thing from its state to some other state => goal combination of transformation => plan  And for sure, Automated Planning is using OR techniques answered 27 May '15, 11:38 Philippe Lab... 62●3 accept rate: 9% Constraint Programming anyone? https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/forums/html/category?id=33333333-0000-0000-0000-000000000268 Note: this does not constitute a recommendation one way or another for the product which is the subject of the forum in the link. (27 May '15, 14:44) Mark L Stone
 0 wow thank you so much philllip i think this is in large what I'm looking for. Is there a way you would recommend getting into the field of study? answered 01 Jun '15, 19:05 battlefrisk 39●1●4 accept rate: 0%
 0 A classical textbook on Artificial Intelligence Planning is : Automated Planning: Theory & Practice (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Artificial Intelligence) by M. Ghallab, D. Nau, and P. Traverso (Elsevier, ISBN 1-55860-856-7) 2004. There are some online courses on the topic. For instance this one, based on the above mentioned book: https://www.coursera.org/course/aiplan answered 02 Jun '15, 08:10 Philippe Lab... 62●3 accept rate: 9%
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