Mooc AtlasUniversity-level self-study
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Physics & maths · 36Intermediate

Operations Research & Optimisation

Engineers in logistics, planning or decision support.

Linear algebra, Stanford algorithms, linear programming and approximation algorithms, then decision-making under uncertainty.

349hours of coursework
35weeks at 10 h
4steps
16courses
4universities

Target skills

AlgorithmsGraph TheoryData StructuresMathematical ModelingAlgebraGeometryLinear AlgebraApplied MathematicsMarkov ModelBioinformaticsSocial Network AnalysisProbability

Skill labels as listed on Coursera.

Target jobs

  • Operations research engineer
  • Supply chain analyst
  • Planning engineer

Progression

  1. 1
    Johns Hopkins UniversityBeginner

    Stated prerequisites: Basic algebra (no calculus)

    Show the 3 courses
  2. 2
    Stanford University (Stanford Online)IntermediateC, Java, Python

    Stated prerequisites: Programming in at least one language (C, Java or Python); familiarity with proofs (induction, contradiction); discrete probability

    Show the 4 courses
  3. 3
    University of Colorado BoulderAdvancedPythonacademic credit

    Stated prerequisites: Some background in calculus, probability theory and Python programming

    Show the 5 courses
    CourseLevelLengthRating (reviews)
    Algorithms for Searching, Sorting, and IndexingIntermediate36 h4.7 (544)
    Trees and Graphs: BasicsAdvanced34 h4.6 (194)
    Dynamic Programming, Greedy AlgorithmsAdvanced38 h4.7 (282)
    Approximation Algorithms and Linear ProgrammingAdvanced46 h4.8 (67)
    Advanced Data Structures, RSA and Quantum AlgorithmsAdvanced45 h4.6 (70)
  4. 4
    University of MichiganIntermediateGenerative AI tools

    Stated prerequisites: None stated (no coding required)

    Show the 4 courses
    CourseLevelLengthRating (reviews)
    Model ThinkingIntermediate28 h4.8 (2,265)
    Problem Solving Using Computational ThinkingBeginner12 h4.6 (1,313)
    Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information AgeBeginner13 h4.8 (1,453)
    Leveraging GenAI to Develop Critical Thinking SkillsBeginner6 h4.3 (11)

With Coursera Plus

This path takes 349 hours, about 8 months at 10 hours a week. A Coursera Plus subscription gives access to most of its courses during that time.

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Projects to build

After step 2

Delivery routes

Optimise a small vehicle fleet’s routes with a heuristic and measure the gap to the optimum.

After step 3

Linear program

Model a constrained production problem and solve it with an open-source solver.

After step 4

Decision under uncertainty

Choose a stock level under random demand and compare several decision rules.

Free textbooks

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