DETERMINISTIC MATH MODELS (550.251) HOMEWORK 1 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1. GENERAL: It says in the directions that the problems are to be done by hand. Does that mean typing the entire homework is forbidden? Or does it mean using computer to solve the problems is forbidden? ANSWER: You can always type your homework. This is preferred if your handwriting is hard to read. Please see the software usage guidelines (syllabus) with rules about computer usage. In general, using a calculator/computer for simple operations is ok but using it to give you the answer (i.e., you give the computer the problem it gives you the answer) is bad. You can however use the computer to check your answer. In particular, for HW1, this means you should not use Excel Solver to solve the problem unless instructed to do so. 2. PROBLEM 1: It says Jim will only allocate between 40 and 60 man-hours for individual packages. Does that mean the time allotted for individual packages will be between 40 and 60, or can it go lower than 40? ANSWER: he can alllocate AT LEAST 40 but no more than 60 hrs for this "product". 3. PROBLEM 3: The first condition says "at most one-third of deposits must be in risk-free securities." But it sounds like the "must" should be changed to "may". Am I correct? ANSWER: I'm not really sure how "must" versus "may" makes a difference mathematically in this statement. The important part is the "at most". 4. GENERAL: For numbers 4 and 5, the questions are not on the pdf. Is it going to be like this for the rest of the semester or will be be posting the questions too in the future? In other words, is it necessary for me to buy the book in order to do the homeworks? ANSWER: The text IS required. That means you are responsible for the readings found in the text. So it would make sense to purchase the book. Having said that, I will look into setting up a reserve folder in the library for the course. I would prefer to do this rather than retype the problems and/or post copywritten material on the webpage.