Engineering Optimization

3Validation: Knowing That the Answer Is Right

3.1 Introduction

This book is focused on people who will be self‐learning. I think that optimization is an essential application skill for all who are in business and engineering, but is rarely offered as a course in degree programs. So, I think that there is a need to help those in the practice to acquire the techniques.

Self‐learning is different from the school days of teacher‐directed learning where the teacher chooses the topics, the students read and attempt to understand, and then the teacher creates tests and grades the student’s knowledge or skill. The teacher decides whether the student has adequately acquired the desired skill. In the survival‐of‐the‐fittest environment that is school, graduates have been prepared for passive learning that self‐stops when the student thinks they’ve memorized enough to pass a classroom test. By contrast, in self‐learning, the student must create the tests and exercises that affirm that the material is properly understood and that skill is adequate.

If someone says, “Trust me. I validated it. Use these calculations to build the bridge.” Would you?

“Yes, I trust you.” The boss will say and politely add, “So, I know that you have validated it in a way that the senior engineers will agree is a correct and complete analysis. Show me the evidence.”

How does one validate the claim, “My program gives the right results” or “I have adequate skill”? How does one create and provide the evidence? Unfortunately, ...