This is one of my recent campaigns.
The thing is this: the Operations Research literature -- especially introductory textbooks -- is dominated by modeling paradigms that are solution-methods oriented. By this I mean that the mathematical models we use to formulate problems are "dictated'' by the methods we use to solve these problems.
But typically the problems we attempt to solve can be formulated in different ways and the solution-methods-based models are not necessarily the best ones to use in situation when all you are interested in is ... problem formulations.
I am a strong supporter of the "generic modeling" paradigm.
This paradigm is based on the fact that in operations research we have a rich collection of "generic problems" such as the knapsack problem, the shortest path problem, the transportation problem, the assignment problem, the maximum flow problem, the minimum cost network flow problem, the traveling salesman problem, the diet problem, and the list go on ...
As we all know only too well, these impressive titles are just metaphors. The knapsack problem has very little to do with real knapsacks, the traveling salesman has very little to do with traveling salesmen, and so on.
So it is a fact of life that on many occasions, OR modeling is all about discovering that the problem we are dealing with is one of those generic problems or a slightly modified version of one of them.
The question therefore arises: how do you recognize a generic problem in disguise?
My extensive experience in this area has shown that the conventional solution-method-based modeling paradigm is of little help here.
I am actively trying to promote the use of what I call a "solution-method-free" modeling paradigm in Operations Research. I have been practicing this idea in my teaching for many years and I am now preparing lecture notes on this idea.
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