Assignment Specifications

 

Example 4, in section 1.4 of A First Course in Mathematical Modeling, by Giordano, Fox and Horton, describes the development to model travelers’ tendencies at a regional airport.   You should use this example and explore it in two ways

 

· The survey results that are used for the system coefficients are, of course, subject to error.  So, how much should we trust the model based on these coefficients?  In other words, how sensitive is the system to these coefficients?  Do reasonable errors in the coefficient values result in significantly different model outputs?  

 

· Modify the model so that it reflects airlines’ recruitment of new travelers each week from the local area.  Again, how sensitive is the model output to variations in the estimates of recruiting?

 

This is a relatively simple assignment from a math and deployment perspective.  However, you should be sure to create a professional report that clearly describes your assumptions, methods, verifications and results.  I am purposely not giving you a lot of guidance or cookbook instructions here, preferring that you use your own good sense of judgement, creativity and work ethic to explore and present meaning answers to the questions.

 

You may end up spending more time planning what you will do and how you will present it, than you will spend doing the actual work.  Please keep in mind that well-designed tables and graphs can present results and conclusions much more clearly and efficiently than long lists of numbers.

 

You are not required to use a Jupyter notebook for this assignment.

 

Submitting the report

 

You should submit your report in HTML or PDF format through Moodle before the deadline (preferably long before the deadline, so that you do not suffer from any last-minute problems).  It is permissible to submit “partially-completed” reports before the deadline, in case you want to make sure “something” gets submitted.  Only the latest submission will be graded.

 

Please, turn in your report in HTML or PDF format only.  Turning in a raw notebook (.ipynb) or Word document, etc is unacceptable.