MECH 534 Computer-Based Modeling and Simulation Notes on Decision Trees and Monte Carlo Simulations Prepared by Prof. Cagatay Basdogan Decision Trees: Decision trees

Decision Trees: Decision trees are typically used to support decision-making in an uncertain environment. For example, in making engineering decisions for product manufacturing, the engineer usually faces multiple unknowns that make it difficult to choose a winning option. Although the engineer does not know what the overall outcome will be, he generally has some knowledge—or at least an opinion—about what the possible outcomes for the various phases of the operation and how likely each is to occur. This information can be compiled to help the option that is most likely to yield favorable results. Decision trees make this type of analysis relatively easy to apply.