Management science - Definition and Overview

Management science, or MS, is the discipline of using mathematics, and other analytical methods, to help make better business decisions. While often considered synonymous with Operations Research (OR), MS is differentiated by being generally thought to have a more practical, rather than academic, bent.

Some of the fields that are englobed within Management Science include: decision analysis, optimization, simulation, forecasting, game theory, mathematical modeling, data mining, probability and statistics, as well as many others.

The Management Scientitst's mandate is to use rational, science-based techniques to inform and improve business decisions of all kinds.