3.5. Glossary¶
Constraints: Constraints are the rules you must follow. For example, you can’t sell more things than you have. You can’t spend more money than you have in the bank. You can only make so many pizzas every hour.
Dependent Variable: A dependent variable is a variable whose value is based on the change in a separate variable. For example, the profits from the sale of lemonade depends on the price of lemon.
Independent Variable: An independent variable is a variable that is not directly affected by another variable. It can affect the dependent variable.
Objective function: Objective function is the thing that you want to minimize or maximize depending on what is most suitable to the desired outcome. For example, you might want to maximize the total profit. Or, you might want to minimize the total cost.
Optimization: Optimization is a method in which an objective function is either minimized or maximized based on a particular set of constraints.