Chapter 1—Introduction to Modeling
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Whichofthefollowingisatypeofmodelthatiskeytovirtuallyeverymanagementscience application?
a. Heuristicmodel
b. Queuingmodel
c. Mathematicalmodel
d. Regressionmodel
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2. Whichofthefollowingis not oneofadvantagesofmathematicalmodels?
a. Mathematicalmodelsenablemanagerstounderstandtheproblembetter
b. Mathematicalmodelsallowanalyststoemployavarietyofmathematicalsolution procedures
c. Themathematicalmodelingprocessitself,ifdonecorrectly,oftenhelps“sell”thesolution
d. Mathematicalmodelshelpreducethecostofobtainingasolution
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3. Beforetrustingtheanswerstowhat-ifscenariosfromaspreadsheetmodel,amanagershouldattempt to:
a. validatethemodel
b. makesureallpossiblescenarioshavebeeninvestigated
c. checkthemathematicsinthemodel
d. sense-checkthemodel
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4. Optimizationmodelsareusefulfordetermining:
a. sensitivitytoinputs
b. whethertheinputsarevalidornot
c. whatthemanagershoulddo
d. thevalueoftheoutputunderthecurrentconditions
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5. Managementsciencehasoftenbeentaughtasacollectionof:
a. theories
b. problems
c. models
d. topics
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6. Themodelingprocessdiscussedin Practical Management Science isa
a. seven-stepprocess
b. six-stepprocess
c. five-stepprocess
d. four-stepprocess
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7. Defininganorganization'sproblemincludes:
a. specifyingtheorganization'sobjectives
b. collectingtheorganization'shistoricaldata
c. definingthemodeloftheproblem
d. sensitivityanalysis
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8. Whichofthefollowingtypeofmodelisusedwhenanappropriateequationorsystemofequationscan bedevelopedtorepresentthesystem?
a. Simulationmodel
b. Analyticalmodel
c. Heuristicmodel
d. Spreadsheetmodel
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9. Afirststepindetermininghowwellamodelfitsrealityisto:
a. checkwhethertheinputsarecorrect
b. seeifthesensitivityanalysisiscorrect
c. checkwhetherthemodelisvalidforthecurrentsituation
d. trysomewhat-ifscenariostoseeifthemodelisabletoobtainsolutions
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10. Whichofthefollowingis not necessarilyapropertyofagoodmodel?
a. Themodelrepresentstheclient'srealproblemaccurately
b. Themodelisassimpleaspossible
c. Themodelisbasedonawell-knownalgorithm
d. Themodelisonetheclientcanunderstand
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11. Whichofthefollowingisapossiblecauseifamodel'soutputsforcertaininputsarenotasexpected?
a. Thecertaininputsmaynotbecorrect
b. Themodelcouldbetoodetailedofanapproximationoftheactualsituation
c. Themathematicsinthemodelmightbeincorrect
d. Theexpectedoutputsarenotcorrect
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12. Whichofthefollowingis not oneoftheguidingprinciplesforaheuristic?
a. Commonsense
b. Intuition
c. Trialanderror
d. Optimality
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13. Whichofthefollowingis not oneofthedesiredconditionsforasuccessfulmodelimplementation?
a. Thepeoplewhowillrunthemodelunderstandhowtoenterappropriateinputs
b. Thepeoplewhowillrunthemodelareabletorunwhat-ifanalysis
c. Thepeoplewhowillrunthemodelareabletomodifyit
d. Thepeoplewhowillrunthemodelareabletointerpretthemodel'soutputscorrectly
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14. Themostfrequentcauseofafailedimplementationofamodelis:
a. themodelisincorrect
b. theanalystfailstocommunicatehowtousethemodel
c. thedataforthemodelisunavailable
d. themodelistoocomplex
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15. Whichofthefollowingis not oneofthereasonsforthenew-foundrelevanceofmanagementscience models?
a. Modelingisanimportantwaytothinkaboutproblemsingeneral
b. Modelingisoftennowalegalrequirement
c. Thebusinessworldisincreasinglydrivenbynumbers
d. Modelinghelpsdevelopintuitionforproblems
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TRUE/FALSE
16. Modelsthatsuggestadesirablecourseofactionarecalleddescriptivemodels
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17. Inadescriptivemodel,themanagerfirstwantstobuildamodelthatreflectsthecurrentsituation.
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18. Inmodelingsituationswhereitisnotpossibletowriteanequationforanoutputintermsoftheinputs, theremaystillbeamathematicalprocedureforcalculatingoutputsfrominputs.
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19. Oneoftheadvantagesofspreadsheetmodelsisthattheyallowmanagerstoaskwhat-ifquestions.
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20. Oneoftheargumentsthatmanagementsciencepractitionershaveusedtocriticizetheemphasison specificmodelsisthattheydonotprovidethecorrectanswer.
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21. Theoverallmodelingprocesstypicallydoneinpracticealwaysrequiressevensteps:definethe problem,collectandsummarizedata,developamodel,verifythemodel,selectoneormoresuitable decisions,presenttheresultstotheorganization,andfinallyimplementthemodelandupdateit throughtime.
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22. Modelingisaprocesswheretheessenceofatheoreticalproblemisextractedintoamodel,spreadsheet orotherwise.
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23. Insomeapplications,ananalystmightpresentseveralalternativesolutionsfromamodel,andletthe organizationchoosethebestone.
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24. Amanagementsciencemodelistypicallyinitiatedwhenanorganizationbelievesithasaproblem.
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25. Dataareoftennotintherequiredform,inwhichcaseitistheanalysts'jobtogathertherightdataand putitintoanappropriateformat.
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26. Agoodmodelshouldachievetherightbalancebetweenbeingtoosimpleandtoocomplex.
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27. Verificationistypicallythemostdifficultphaseofthemodelingprocess,fromamathematical perspective.
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28. Asmodelsbecomelargerandmorecomplex,heuristicsolutionsareoftenadequate,eventhoughthey arenotnecessarilyoptimalsolutions.
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29. Thebeststrategyforimplementationofamodelistoinvolvekeypeopleintheorganizationinthe projectwhenthemodelisreadyfortestingandverification.
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30. Acompletedmodeltypicallymarkstheendofthemodelingprocess.
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