An overview of heuristic solution methods

Besides those analysts who are already familiar with a number of heuristic methods, this paper should also be of interest to those analysts and managers who, although not yet aware of specific heuristic approaches, are quite comfortable with the use of mathematical modelling as an aid to decision making. It is concerned with obtaining usable solutions to well-defined mathematical representations of real-world problem situations. Heuristic procedures are defined and reasons for their importance are listed. A wide variety of heuristic methods, including several metaheuristics, are described. In each case, references for further details, including applications, are provided. There is also considerable discussion related to performance evaluation.