Letter to the Editor—Another Formulation of the Inventory Problem

The past decade has given rise to a considerable amount of research in the fields of inventory control and production planning. One of the most useful mathematical models originated with the paper of K. D. Arrow, T. E. Harris, and J. Marschak, “Optimal Inventory Policy,” Econometrica 19, 250–272 (1951). This model was further improved in Richard Bellman's book, Dynamic Programming, pp. 152–182, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1957. In the present paper, another formulation of the same problem is exhibited. The attentive reader will observe many similarities to the dynamic programming formulation.