Estimations and Models

Our main objective in this class is to use the tools of mathematics to make better decisions. We'll explore where math is and isn't useful, how to fit a real world situation into a mathematical model, and perform an accurate and legible computation for others to follow.

This section of the text introduces the idea of defining a decision, the estimation needed to support the decision, and a mathematical model to make the estimation. After we have made the estimation, we can evaluate its impact on our decision.

An important part of the estimation process is letting go of the idea that your answer will be "correct". We often must make important decisions without complete information. Your answer will be an imperfect but useful estimation that will give us insight into a decision we are making. You can ask yourself as you begin the estimation how accurate do you need to be? This is a very different practice than many math problems which have exact answers.