Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  • Coming soon
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Expected online publication date:
October 2025
Print publication year:
2025
Online ISBN:
9781009379175

Book description

Improving public policies, creating the next generation of AI systems, reducing crime, making hospitals more efficient, addressing climate change, controlling pandemics, and reducing disruption in supply chains are all problems where big picture ideas from analytics science have had large-scale impact. What are those ideas? Who came up with them? Will insights from analytics science help solve even more daunting societal challenges? This book takes readers on an engaging tour of the evolution of analytics science and how it brought together ideas and tools from many different fields – AI, machine learning, data science, OR, optimization, statistics, economics, and more – to make the world a better place. Using these ideas and tools, big picture insights emerge from simplified settings that get at the essence of a problem, leading to superior approaches to complex societal issues. A fascinating read for anyone interested in how problems can be solved by leveraging analytics.

Reviews

‘Understanding our exponentially accelerating future requires clear frameworks for thinking, and Soroush Saghafian distills a century of our best analytical tools into this outstanding book.’

Ray Kurzweil - Google chief futurist, recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and author of The Singularity is Nearer

‘Solving society's most pressing challenges will require new ideas and insights. Determining which ideas will work best requires data, models, and expertise with a variety of analytic tools. Saghafian offers a deep, yet understandable, practitioners’ guide to machine learning, resource allocation, mechanism design, linear programming, and data analytics.’

Scott E. Page - John Seely Brown Distinguished University Professor, University of Michigan, author of The Model Thinker

‘Sweeping in scope, optimistic, and accessible, Saghafian’s book on analytics science will become a reference for students and practitioners who seek a principled approach to solving difficult problems. Offering historical context and real-world examples, and with a solid grounding in scholarship while avoiding difficult notation, this book scaffolds an integrated approach toward building a better world.’

David Parkes - Dean of John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AAA

The PDF of this book complies with version 2.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), offering more comprehensive accessibility measures for a broad range of users and attains the highest (AAA) level of WCAG compliance, optimising the user experience by meeting the most extensive accessibility guidelines.

Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation

Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.

Index navigation

Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.

Reading Order and Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order

You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.

Short alternative textual descriptions

You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.

Full alternative textual descriptions

You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.

Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information

You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.

Use of high contrast between text and background colour

You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.