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Science 8 December 1972:
Vol. 178. no. 4065, pp. 1061 - 1070
DOI: 10.1126/science.178.4065.1061
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Articles

Operations Research: Some Contributions to Mathematics

Applied mathematics gets a new surge of life from techniques of operations research

Thomas L. Saaty 1

1 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104

The discussion of fuzzy sets indicates that set theory should be extended to make it more suitable for the development of algebraic structures with wider applications. Stochastic optimization, a synthesis of the three areas of continuum mathematics, is a rapidly growing field particularly in the context of control theory. Applications of discrete mathematics have found a rich outlet in graph theory, particularly in the social sciences. However, there remains a wide gap between the sophisticated activities that are required for the development of optimum policies and the more difficult and intractable problems of organizational structures and performance.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)