REPRESENTATION SCHEMES FOR MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING MODELS

Abstract

Because of the difficulties often experienced in formulating and understanding large scale models, much current research is directed towards developing systems to support the construction and understanding of management science models. This paper discusses seven different methods for representing mathematical programming models during the formulation phase of the modeling process. The approaches discussed are block-schematic, algebraic, three different kinds of graphical schemes, a database-oriented approach and Structured Modeling. We emphasize representations that have graphical elements suitable for incorporation in the interface to a modeling system. The different methods are compared using a common example and the transformations that allow one to go from one representation to another are discussed.