Linear Programming the Simplex Method

Linear programming has been employed to investigate such diverse problems of health care services, the choice of suitable irrigation techniques in a developing country, the placement of schools in an urban area and the choice of a site for a nuclear power station. This chapter aims to demonstrate the wide applicability of linear programming, and discusses the formulation of linear programming problems in several contrasting contexts. An area of study within which linear programming has been applied with considerable success is that of urban landuse design. One of the main uses of linear programming in an agricultural context is to determine the acreages in an area which should be allocated to various uses in order to fulfill a stated objective while keeping within the bounds of given constraints. A subject area in which it has been suggested that linear programming could be used to advantage is that concerning the acquisition and use of land for recreational purposes.