Operations Research Management Science - Letters To The Editor

<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff" link="cc0000" vlink="cc0000" text="#000000"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br>   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480><tr valign=top> <td width=10><img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 hspace=4 border=0></td> <td width=470> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><I><A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top">OR/MS Today</A> - June 2002</I></B></font><BR> <hr size="1"> <img src="cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <font face="times new roman, times"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>Letters To The Editor</B></FONT><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br>    <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Call for Health Care Action</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> To the Editor:<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> O, INFORMS, INFORMS! Wherefore art thou INFORMS?<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Michael Carter is to be commended for his very informative article on the health care crisis in the April 2002 issue of OR/MS Today. He authenticates the great opportunity for OR applications and quotes the database he and Leonid Churilov built, with 800 papers describing OR applications in health care. Who are the authors of these papers?<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> The headline to Carter's articles asks, "Why aren't more OR professionals responding to the emergency?"<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> The causes are manifold, starting with the fact our textbooks largely ignore health care. Mea culpa! The fact is that I find it hard to get enough tutorial material I could use. So this is a call for action.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Professionals: Please provide references to accessible and flexible material. Authors: Please make efforts to include the health care perspective into OR, MS, Operations Management textbooks.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <B>Andrew Vazsonyi<BR> Santa Rosa, Calif.</B><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <I>Vazsonyi, who describes himself as a "real-life mathematician," is professor emeritus at the University of San Francisco.</I> <BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Heads I Win, Tails You Lose</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> To the Editor:<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> The following question appeared in the "Ask Marilyn" column (Marilyn vos Savant is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame for the highest IQ) in Parade Magazine on March 31:<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> "Say you're in a public library, and a beautiful stranger strikes up a conversation with you. She says, 'Let's show pennies to each other, either heads or tails. If we both show heads, I pay you $3. If we both show tails, I pay you $1. If they don't match, you pay me $2.'<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> "At this point, she is shushed. You think, 'With both heads one-quarter of the time, I get $3. And with both tails one-quarter of the time, I get $1. So half of the time, I get $4. And with no matches half of the time, she gets $4. So it's a fair game.'<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> "As the game is quiet, you can play in the library. But should you? Should she?" The question was raised by Edward Spellman of Cheshire, Conn.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Here is Marilyn's answer that appeared in her column on April 7: "Answer to last week's puzzle: The woman in the library said, 'Let's show pennies to each other, either heads or tails. If we both show heads, I pay you $3. If we both show tails, I pay you $1. And if they don't match, you pay me $2.' Should you play? No. She can win easily. One way: If she shows you twice as many tails as heads, she wins an average of $1 for every six plays."<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Marilyn's answer to play twice as many tails as heads and win $1 in six plays is wrong if her opponent elects to play tails all the time! In that case, she (and her opponent) break even. Given the beautiful strangers' strategy to play twice as many tails as heads, what she wins depends on her opponent's strategy. If her opponent plays heads and tails randomly 50-50, then she will win $1 for every six plays as Marilyn stated. However, based on the statement of the problem, there is nothing stopping her opponent from playing tails all the time. In this case, they would break even (her winnings, on average, would be 2+2-1-1-1-1=0).<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> In contrast, if she plays randomly three heads and five tails, then it can be shown, based on elementary game theory, that no matter what strategy her opponent uses, she will win, on average, $1 every eight games.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <B>Francis J. Vasko<BR> Kutztown, Pa.</B><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <B>Dennis D. Newhart<BR> Bethlehem, Pa.</B><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <I>Vasko is a professor in Mathematics & CIS Department at Kutztown University. Newhart works in the research department for a major corporation.</I><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <CENTER><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="1" BGCOLOR="#990000" width=440> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Middle"> <TD><IMG SRC="art/shim.gif" VSPACE=1 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="6" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" width=436> <TR ALIGN="Left" VALIGN="Top"> <TD> <CENTER><font color="#990000" size="3" face="verdana, arial, helvetica"><B>Carl M. Harris<BR> Scholarship Endowment</B></font></CENTER><BR> <font size="2" face="verdana, arial, helvetica"> Upon Carl Harris' untimely death two years ago, George Mason University set up the Carl M. Harris Scholarship Endowment. The fund is being used to provide scholarships to outstanding students in operations research. In order to keep Carl's name alive, it is now necessary to go out on a call for donations to raise additional funds for a perpetual scholarship endowment in his name.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Carl was a vital member of the operations research community and our professional society. He served as secretary of ORSA from 1986-89 and president from 1990-91. He was instrumental in the development of INFORMS. Through his efforts, the INFORMS President's Award for Exemplary Practice of Operations Research was established. He also was key in the establishment of the INFORMS Journal on Computing. In 1999, he was awarded the Kimball Medal for distinguished service to the society and the profession. He touched the lives of so many of us, colleagues and students alike.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> We hope that you can help us attain this goal. Contributions should be sent to:<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <CENTER><B>The Carl M. Harris<br> Scholarship Endowment</B><br> The George Mason Foundation<br> Director of Development, IT&E<br> MS 5C8<br> George Mason University<br> Fairfax, VA 22030<br> </CENTER><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <B> Submitted by Don Gross</B> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <IMG SRC="art/shim.gif" VSPACE=1 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </CENTER> <BR>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=5 border=0><br>  <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <font face="verdana, arial, helvetica" size="1"> <CENTER><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></CENTER><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="tocfr.html" Target="_top"><I>Table of Contents</I></A><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top"><I>OR/MS Today</I> Home Page</A><br>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b><i>OR/MS Today</i></b> copyright © 2002 by <A HREF="http://www.informs.org/" target="_new">the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences</a>. 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