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Mathematics-Online lexicon:

# Linear Program

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The minimization of a linear function

subject to the constraints

with an -matrix is called a linear program. A solution satisfies the Kuhn-Tucker conditions,

with (for a maximum, ).

For the concrete example

min

we have

and the Kuhn-Tucker conditions are

with , , , . Obviously, exactly one of the Lagrange multipliers must be zero. For each of the three cases, two constraints are active and determine and uniquely:

A comparison of the values of the target function shows that the minimum is attained at . The corresponding Lagrange multipliers are , .

The figure illustrates a geometric construction of the solution. The solution is the point where a level line of the target function touches the shaded admissible region. Clearly, the target function increases (decreases) if the level lines begin to intersect (not intersect) the admissible region.

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