Dynamic Programming and Stochastic Control (Enhanced Edition‪)‬

This chapter sets the stage for the remainder of this text. Rather than
dealing with methods for analysis or solution of decision problems under
uncertainty, it examines various approaches for formulating such problems.
Since the subject is of fundamental importance and at the same time far from
trivial, it is worth examiningeven in the context ofan introductory text. On the
other hand, the material in this chapter is not used in a direct way later and it
is not essential for the reader to have a firm grasp of it in order to proceed to
subsequent chapters.