Individuals make hundreds of decisions every day, sometimes consciously but often unconciously. In doing so, we aim to achieve certain goals but, however, face restrictions. By reading this book, you aim to learn, or perhaps simply to obtain a good grade at school, but you are faced with a limited amount of time available to dedicate to it. A few personal decisions are transcendent enough to be organized into a more formal framework. Those consuming significant amounts of their own resources (purchase of a house/car or a major trip overseas) surpass a threshold level that force us to look into alternatives and to choose carefully.
This book deals with the methods and techniques that a civil engineer can use when analysing a system. It provides a means for supporting the decision-making process for the allocation of resources under circumstances with either conflicting goals or limited availability. The book presents two types of chapters; those intended to provide the basic foundations in mathematics, statistics and economics, and those that introduce and develop the application of the methods to real-world scenarios.
Civil Engineering Systems Analysis is a textbook of reference that teaches how to analyse engineering problems; however, its models are limited to the variables and facts incorporated into the analysis. Other variables and facts remaining outside the analysis should be used in a secondary stage to further reduce the set of choices or to choose the most convenient alternative.
The book is structured as follows: Chapter 1 illustrates how to take a problem, identify its nature and obtain a mathematical representation. Chapter 2 introduces some concepts from mathematical analysis required to define the scope of applicability of problems appearing in more advanced chapters or to provide a means to warrant the existence of a solution. It creates a strong foundation that is typically missing in most civil engineering programs of study. Chapter 3 presents some concepts of optimization. After learning how to take a problem and enunciate it in Chapter 1, Chapter 3 teaches you how to approach and solve the mathematical formulation. To make it simple, Chapter 3 looks at basic problems of decision-making and methods to select the best solution. Chapter 4 covers concepts you may have learned before in probability and statistics. Chapter 5 extends the concepts of Chapter 4 into estimation and prediction. Chapter 6 addresses a special type of model for the integrated analysis of land development and trips on a network originated by travellers or the movement of freight. Chapter 7 covers problems of transportation and municipal engineering. Chapter 8 applies the learnings to civil infrastructure management. Finally, Chapter 9 introduces uncertainty through decision trees and the use of conditional probabilities in decision-making.
Before we jump into that, I would like to close this preface by encouraging you to take the methods presented in this book and attempt to apply them as you learn them. Think about common day-to-day problems: Have you ever walked into the metro platform to a position that perfectly aligns you to the exit at your exit stop while you wait for the train to arrive? Do you ever purchase at the grocery store by analysing calories, fat and nutrient contents in addition to the price? Or do you ever buy what is on sale and enough to last until the next time it will be on sale? As you will soon notice, eventually, any decision you make in your personal and professional life can be optimized.
Luis Amador-Jimenez
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