OPERATIONS RESEARCH IN HIGH SCHOOLS: AN EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM.

This article focuses on operations research in high schools. With the abstract nature of modern mathematics, many students have begun to feel that their mathematics training is largely an irrelevant experience. In most cases, mathematics teachers in high schools are unaware of the link between the mathematics they are presenting and the decision making procedures of operations research. The Linear Programming Workbook begins by posing a very simple production problem to the students and asks them to indicate how many black-and-white and color television sets they would produce if they were the production supervisor and were faced with the problem outlined in the workbook. The workbook then proceeds to show how the problem can be solved graphically. While the simulation workbook does not provide for as great a reinforcement of high school math skills as does the linear programming unit, it does contribute several significant facets to the high school math experience.