Formal Mathematical Description
Each decision in a set of available decision options will lead to an outcome . All possible outcomes form the set . Assigning a utility to every outcome, we can define the utility of a particular decision as
We can then define an optimal decision as one that maximizes :
Solving the problem can thus be divided into three steps:
- predicting the outcome for every decision
- assigning a utility to every outcome
- finding the decision that maximizes
Read more about this topic: Optimal Decision
Famous quotes containing the words formal, mathematical and/or description:
“The manifestation of poetry in external life is formal perfection. True sentiment grows within, and art must represent internal phenomena externally.”
—Franz Grillparzer (17911872)
“The most distinct and beautiful statement of any truth must take at last the mathematical form.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“Whose are the truly labored sentences? From the weak and flimsy periods of the politician and literary man, we are glad to turn even to the description of work, the simple record of the months labor in the farmers almanac, to restore our tone and spirits.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)