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Search models

Part of: Operations research and management science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

J. A. Bather
J. A. Bather*
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
*
∗ Postal address: Mathematics Division, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK.
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Abstract

Mathematical models have been proposed for oil exploration and other kinds of search. They can be used to estimate the amount of undiscovered resources or to investigate optimal stopping times for the search. Here we consider a continuous search for hidden objects using a model which represents the number and values of the objects by mixtures of Poisson processes. The flexibility of the model and its complexity depend on the number of components in the mixture. In simple cases, optimal stopping rules can be found explicitly and more general qualitative results can sometimes be obtained.

Keywords

BAYESIAN MODELPOISSON PROCESSESOPTIMAL STOPPING

MSC classification

Primary: 90B40: Search theory

Information

Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Applied Probability , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 605 - 615
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1992 

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