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Multiple criteria decision making
Book Reviews
452
Contents, style and organization of the book are good, concerning symbolics and mathematical dearhess a few revisions are necessary. So on page 13 the reader gets confused about the way how elements of a set are indexed. It should be K = {1, ..., k3 instead o f K = 1, ..., k. For further incorrect indexing see pp. 13-15. Furthermore mathematical objects often have properties which are not proposed. On page 14 for building
X = {x. ilfi(x.l)~gi, i E R , j E K } and X = {x./lxi. ~ ti, i~=L,J EK) we have to assume ~he existence of ~ relations in the corresponding sets. We wonder whether the'autors intended this to be. On page 135 the necessity and sufficient condition for efficiency in a vector optimum problem is not correct even for the linear case. The reader who is interested in the correct statements is referred to Kuhn and Tuckers paper: Nonlinear Programming, in: J. Neyman (ed.), Proceedings of the Second Berkeley Symposium on Math. Stat. and Probability (1951). In spite of these very few inconsistencies - which might even be misprints - we fully recommend the book. W.
RODDER
R ICTHAachen Federal Republic of Germany
M. ZELENY, ed., Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Kyoto 1975, in: M. Beckrnama, H.P. KCmzi, man. eds., Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, ¢ol. 123, Springer-Verlag, Bedin, 1976, xxvii + 345 pages, DM 32.-. The book contains fifteen papers originally prep!red for the session on Multiple Criteria Decision Making at the XX!I International Meeting of TIMS held in Kyoto, Japan, July 24-26, 1975. After "Notes On Contributors" with short but in~'orming descriptions of the scientific position of all authors and co-authors of the papers and "Editor's Introduction", we find articles on the various aspects of Multiple Criteria Decision Making like - interactive solution methods,
basic discussions how to interpret the imperative of optimizing several instead of one objective by a mathematical model, general thoughts or. decision processes in individuals or groups, reports of applications, surveys. A very extensive Bibliography of approximately 500 published works gives a good overview of what has been written on Multiple Criteria Decision Making since the first beginning up to 1975. In the abstracts the editor pretends: " . . . to make this volume not only a source of new ideas for research but also a useful book of reference for practitioners and students of the art of decision making". I fully agree with that statement. It has to be pointed out, however, that the volume by no means is a textbook on the topic. The reader has to be familiar with the various aspects of Multi Criteria Decision Making to be able to follow the authors' thoughts and understand their intentions. The accumulation of the names of well-known scientists such as A. Charnes, W.W. Cooper, R.M. Dawes, W.A. Hall, K.R. Hammond, E. Jolmsen, J. Marschak, W.F. Massy, E. Polak, A. Rapoport guarantee a high level of reasoning° For mathematicians, operations researchers, practitioners and others who are interested in how to make decisions in case of more than one objective function the book is a net:essary source of information. The price of DM 32.- seems adequate.
W.
RODDER
R WTH Aachen Federal Republic of Germany
H. THIRIEZ, S. ZIONTS, eds., Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Jouy-enJosas, France, in: M. Beckmann, H.P. Kfinzi, man. eds., Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, Vol. 130, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1976, vi + 409 pages, DM 35.The proceedings contain 29 articles on the field of Multi Criteria Decision Making plus a list of addresses of the approximately 75 participants of the Conference held at Jouy-en-Josas, France, May 2 1 23, ~975. With one exception all the articles are written in English, the one exception in French. Every paper is followed by comments of discussants. Compared to the proceedings of the Conference
452
Contents, style and organization of the book are good, concerning symbolics and mathematical dearhess a few revisions are necessary. So on page 13 the reader gets confused about the way how elements of a set are indexed. It should be K = {1, ..., k3 instead o f K = 1, ..., k. For further incorrect indexing see pp. 13-15. Furthermore mathematical objects often have properties which are not proposed. On page 14 for building
X = {x. ilfi(x.l)~gi, i E R , j E K } and X = {x./lxi. ~ ti, i~=L,J EK) we have to assume ~he existence of ~ relations in the corresponding sets. We wonder whether the'autors intended this to be. On page 135 the necessity and sufficient condition for efficiency in a vector optimum problem is not correct even for the linear case. The reader who is interested in the correct statements is referred to Kuhn and Tuckers paper: Nonlinear Programming, in: J. Neyman (ed.), Proceedings of the Second Berkeley Symposium on Math. Stat. and Probability (1951). In spite of these very few inconsistencies - which might even be misprints - we fully recommend the book. W.
RODDER
R ICTHAachen Federal Republic of Germany
M. ZELENY, ed., Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Kyoto 1975, in: M. Beckrnama, H.P. KCmzi, man. eds., Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, ¢ol. 123, Springer-Verlag, Bedin, 1976, xxvii + 345 pages, DM 32.-. The book contains fifteen papers originally prep!red for the session on Multiple Criteria Decision Making at the XX!I International Meeting of TIMS held in Kyoto, Japan, July 24-26, 1975. After "Notes On Contributors" with short but in~'orming descriptions of the scientific position of all authors and co-authors of the papers and "Editor's Introduction", we find articles on the various aspects of Multiple Criteria Decision Making like - interactive solution methods,
basic discussions how to interpret the imperative of optimizing several instead of one objective by a mathematical model, general thoughts or. decision processes in individuals or groups, reports of applications, surveys. A very extensive Bibliography of approximately 500 published works gives a good overview of what has been written on Multiple Criteria Decision Making since the first beginning up to 1975. In the abstracts the editor pretends: " . . . to make this volume not only a source of new ideas for research but also a useful book of reference for practitioners and students of the art of decision making". I fully agree with that statement. It has to be pointed out, however, that the volume by no means is a textbook on the topic. The reader has to be familiar with the various aspects of Multi Criteria Decision Making to be able to follow the authors' thoughts and understand their intentions. The accumulation of the names of well-known scientists such as A. Charnes, W.W. Cooper, R.M. Dawes, W.A. Hall, K.R. Hammond, E. Jolmsen, J. Marschak, W.F. Massy, E. Polak, A. Rapoport guarantee a high level of reasoning° For mathematicians, operations researchers, practitioners and others who are interested in how to make decisions in case of more than one objective function the book is a net:essary source of information. The price of DM 32.- seems adequate.
W.
RODDER
R WTH Aachen Federal Republic of Germany
H. THIRIEZ, S. ZIONTS, eds., Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Jouy-enJosas, France, in: M. Beckmann, H.P. Kfinzi, man. eds., Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, Vol. 130, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1976, vi + 409 pages, DM 35.The proceedings contain 29 articles on the field of Multi Criteria Decision Making plus a list of addresses of the approximately 75 participants of the Conference held at Jouy-en-Josas, France, May 2 1 23, ~975. With one exception all the articles are written in English, the one exception in French. Every paper is followed by comments of discussants. Compared to the proceedings of the Conference