Title: Mathematical Modeling and Operational Research: Some Case Studies and Lessons of Mountaineering
Júlio Michael Stern – Department of Applied Mathematics – University of São Paulo
Abstract
The title of this conference is an upbeat version of Lições de Abismo, a novel by Gustavo Corção, where the author wishes to have had some lessons preparing him for the difficult challenges he has to overcome.
Consulting for industry and commercial or financial enterprises was for me a real challenge, for my first encounter with applied mathematics was the book of Prof. Chaim Hoenig – Application of Topology to Analysis.
I wish I had some Lessons in Mountaineering, teaching me some basic tricks and other not so trivial survival skills for consulting in applied mathematics. Unfortunately, I never had such preparatory lessons.
Nevertheless, I ended up doing quite a few interesting projects on “real” applied mathematics, including several PITE and PIPE projects at FAPESP. Some of my recollections about these projects can be found in section 4 of
http://www.ime.usp.br/~jstern/vitae/jmst2.pdf and accompanying slides http://www.ime.usp.br/~jstern/vitae/jmsts2.pdf
I will try to extract from these recollections some lessons in mountaineering.
