About the course

About the lecturer

Students interested in taking this course should register with the teacher. The students will form a group of two and each group will be doing different project in applied mathematics. Students taking this course are expected to have some knowledge about programming (e.g. matlab, mathematica, or excel).

The theme this year: Simulation for Logistics Problems.

Not many physical and economical models result in a mathematical equation that can be solved by mathematical means. Closed form solutions are a rarity in reality and one usually has to resort to numerical schemes to solve the problems. Simulation technique is the last frontier where one has to go "where no other schemes have gone before". In this project, we will study some basic simulation techniques and use EXCEL to solve some practical problems in logistics.

Quota: 8 students in 4 groups of two. Please arrange your partner yourselves.

Grade:

• Two Presentations = 30%
• Bi-weekly Project Presentations = 20%.
• Project Defense = 30%
• Project Summary = 20%

• First Lecture: Organization Meeting on January 8 (Tuesday) at 6:30pm at my office (Rm 201, Lady Shaw Building)
• Jan 28 or 29 (Monday or Tuesday): First Presentation (on Simulation)
• Feb 4 or 5 (Monday or Tuesday): Second Presentation (on simulation modeling by Excel and a presentation of your specific topic)
• February 26, March 11, and March 25 (Tuesdays): Bi-Weekly Project Meetings (to report on the progress of your project)
• April 8 (Tuesday): Project Defense

Materials for the first presentation:

• Sections 18.1-18.5, Simulation Modeling of Operations Research by H. Taha, 6th Ed.

• Chapters 1-3, Simulation Modeling Using @Risk, by W. L. Winston.
• Materials from your own project, see "Projects" below.

Reference texts:

• Simulation Modeling and Analysis, 3rd Ed., by Averill Law and David Kelton
• Random Number, by Cleve Moler
• An Introduction to Queueing Networks, by Jean Walrand, Prentice Hall
• Business Logistics Management, 4th Ed., by Ronald H. Ballou, Prentice Hall
• Allen Tai's thesis
• Raymond's paper

Projects:

• Two-queue overflow model (Winston's book): Kwok Siu Man and Luk Hon Tung
• Two-echelon inventory and returns model (Tai's thesis): Jing Shi, Yu Lijie, and Cai Yufei
• Queues with group arrivals (Raymond's paper): Jennifer Yip and Che Pak Hou

Things to know about the presentations and bi-weekly meetings:

• Please make your appointment with me at least two days before the scheduled meeting date.
• We will meet in my office: Rm 201, Lady Shaw Building.
• The first and second presentations: 60 minutes long for each group. Time slots: 4:30pm-5:30pm, 5:30pm-6:30pm.
• The bi-weekly meetings: 30 minutes long for each group. Time slots: 4:30pm-5:00pm, 5:00pm-5:30pm, 5:30pm-6:00pm, and 6:00pm-6:30pm.

• Date will be April 8. Time is from 4:30pm to 6:30pm.
• Duration of your whole defense is 30-minute sharp, including 5 minutes Q&A.
• A presentation of your project, including the aim, the problem, the method used, the results obtained, and suggestions for improvement. The presentation should be in Power-Point.