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| Decision-Making |
Decision-Making
Every action we take is the result of a decision. Do we take our coffee with milk or cream? Do we wear the red outfit or the blue outfit? Do we turn left or right to go around that tree? Do we save or spend? Do we apply for that job or not? Which of the political candidates should we vote for?
Decision-making can involve a choice between two alternatives, the ranking of alternatives, the elimination of the worst alternatives, or the selection of the best alternatives.
The simple ‘if – then –jump’ construct is one of most useful processes controlling all the computers in the world. This simple line of code provides a computer program with the ability to compare two numbers, decide if they are equal or not, and then jump to other corresponding lines in the program. This very basic decision-making process underlies the ability of computer programs to solve complex problems and appear to mimic some aspects of human thinking.
The following example illustrates this important concept. Just about any quality can be expressed as a number, for example the colour green could be ‘6’ and red could be ‘7’. At some point in a computer program, suppose the variable A corresponds to the colour of a sweater that you want to order over the Internet, and B corresponds to the colour of the sweaters in stock. Then a segment of a computer program might look something like this:
300 If A = B then jump to line 400.
400 Print “We have your sweater in stock.”
600 Else If A <> B then jump to line 700
700 Print “Sorry we do not have that colour at the moment.
(The symbol <> is often used in computer programs to mean ‘not equal to’.)
The rest of this is section is devoted to examining strategies for making the best decisions in challenging situations.
Every action we take is the result of a decision. Do we take our coffee with milk or cream? Do we wear the red outfit or the blue outfit? Do we turn left or right to go around that tree? Do we save or spend? Do we apply for that job or not? Which of the political candidates should we vote for?
Decision-making can involve a choice between two alternatives, the ranking of alternatives, the elimination of the worst alternatives, or the selection of the best alternatives.
The simple ‘if – then –jump’ construct is one of most useful processes controlling all the computers in the world. This simple line of code provides a computer program with the ability to compare two numbers, decide if they are equal or not, and then jump to other corresponding lines in the program. This very basic decision-making process underlies the ability of computer programs to solve complex problems and appear to mimic some aspects of human thinking.
The following example illustrates this important concept. Just about any quality can be expressed as a number, for example the colour green could be ‘6’ and red could be ‘7’. At some point in a computer program, suppose the variable A corresponds to the colour of a sweater that you want to order over the Internet, and B corresponds to the colour of the sweaters in stock. Then a segment of a computer program might look something like this:
300 If A = B then jump to line 400.
400 Print “We have your sweater in stock.”
600 Else If A <> B then jump to line 700
700 Print “Sorry we do not have that colour at the moment.
(The symbol <> is often used in computer programs to mean ‘not equal to’.)
The rest of this is section is devoted to examining strategies for making the best decisions in challenging situations.
