linear programming
From The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition, 2008
Edited by
Steven
N.
Durlauf
and
Lawrence
E.
Blume
Alternate versions available:
1987 Edition
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Abstract
An article by George Dantzig, the ‘father of linear programming’. The problem of minimizing or maximizing a function of several variables subject to constraints when all the functions are linear is called a ‘linear program’. Linear programs can be used to approximate the broad class of convex functions commonly encountered in economic planning. Thousands of linear programs are efficiently solved with the simplex method, an algorithm. Solving a model with alternative activities requires software not only for solving on computers large systems of equations but also for selecting the best combination from an astronomical number of possible combinations of activities.
Keywords
bimatrix games; convex program; Dantzig, G.; decomposition principle; Dantzig, G. B.; Kantorovich, L. V.; Koopmans, T. C.; Kuhn–Tucker conditions; Lagrange multipliers; Leontief input–output model; linear programming; mathematical programs; mini-max theorem; mixed strategies; simplex method for solving linear programs; von Neumann, J.
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See Also
How to cite this article
Dantzig, George B. "linear programming." The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Second Edition. Eds. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online. Palgrave Macmillan. 11 August 2017 <http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_L000106> doi:10.1057/9780230226203.0975