Written for readers with a background in algebra, this book provides a complete and modern treatment of basic management science methodology. The authors survey the variety and power of management science tools, working to alleviate readers' apprehension about the subject and to enable readers to recognize on-the-job situations in which management science methodology can be successfully employed. Emphasizing modeling skills for readers of varying mathematical backgrounds, the authors explain how to use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to build skills as they work through problems. In general, problems are broken into several parts to make difficult concepts easy for readers to learn. This book's modular structure affords readers maximum flexibility. This text contains a special student version of Palisade Corporation's DecisionTools Suite, containing @Risk, PrecisionTree, BestFit, TopRank and RiskView. This software is expressly provided for student use and requires student authorization to unlock the software for its full one year license. Professional customers may use the software for 30 days at which point they must contact Palisade Corporation for a professional version should they wish to continue using the software.