Operations Research (Math/CS 339)
Fall 2025

Textbook Info

Video links

Beginning Material

• Syllabus
• Homework to Exam 1
• Homework to Exam 2
• Remaining Homework

Section Links

• Week 1
  • Bio note on George Dantzig
  • Handout for Day 1 (WynDoor and Dorian Auto)
  • Friday and Monday Sep 5-8 (Example using dietary restrictions, also how to use a spreadsheet)
    • Excel spreadsheet: Example01_DorianAuto.xls (See the videos)
    • In-class example: Dietary requirements (Sect 3.4) and Exercise 1, p. 71 (3 Factories on the River)
    • Excel spreadsheet: Example_FarmerSec3_4.xls
• Week 2: We're continuing to look at LPs of different forms.
  • (3.5) Job Scheduling
    • Statement of the problem
    • Spreadsheet for the solution
  • (3.8) Eli Daisy (Blending): Statement of the problem
• Week 3
  • Monday:
    • (3.9) Chemco (Production Process)
      • Chemco, statement of the problem
      • Spreadsheet for the solution
    • (3.10) Cake! (Multiperiod problems): Statement of the problem
      
      HOMEWORK CHANGE: You can delete sections 3.11 and 3.12 from the HW assigned this evening.
      
  • Wed: Finish up 3.10, Start Chapter 4
    • Section 4.2 Example (if time).
    • Homework handout (mentioned on the HW sheet)
  • Fri: Finished 4.3 (How to compute a direction of unboundedness)
• Week 4: The Simplex Method
  • Mon: Section 4.4-4.5
  • Wed: Section 4.6 (On Thursday, the HW from last week is due)
    
  • Fri: Looked at examples from 4.6 (min instead of max), 4.7 (Alternate optimal BFS), 4.8 (Unbounded LP).
• Week 5:
  • Mon: Finish up Ch 4
    An example of cycling (4.11)
  • Wed: Review for Exam 1
  • Fri: Exam 1 (Ch 3-4, up to 4.11).
• Week 6 (Short week for Oct Break!)
  • Mon: Section 4.12- Big M
  • Wed: Section 4.13, 4.16 (Two-phase, then some goal programming).
    • Beamer slides for 4.16 (if time today)
    • Section 4.16 handout
• Week 7 (Oct 13-17)
  • Mon: Finish 4.16, start 6.1 (Sensitivity Analysis)
    • Example of LINGO output
  • Wed: Section 6.1, 6.2
  • Fri: Section 6.2, 6.3
• Week 8 (Oct 20-24)
  • Mon, Oct 20: Finish 6.3
    • Full Worked Example for 6.3
  • Wed, Oct 22: Section 6.5 (The Primal and the Dual)
    • Beamer handout for 6.5 (no pauses)
    • Slides for discussion (with pauses)
  • Fri, Oct 24: 6.7 (The Dual Theorem)
• Week 9 (Oct 27-31)
  • Mon: Section 6.7, start 6.8 (Shadow Prices)
  • Wed: Section 6.9 (The Dual and Sensitivity)
    • Summary of Sensitivity Analysis
    • Take home quiz. Due on Canvas Friday at 11:59 PM.
  • Fri: Section 6.10 (Complementary Slackness)
    • Motivating example
• Week 10 (Nov 3-7)
  • Mon: Section 6.11 (The Dual Simplex Method)
    • Slides for the Dual Simplex
  • Wed: Catch up/Review
  • Fri: Exam 2
• Week 11 (Nov 10-14)
  • Mon: Section 7.1 (The Transportation Problem)
    • Extra HW for 7.1
    • Excel info for Transportation
    • Spreadsheet for the Power Company problem
    • Set up Inventory as Transportation
  • Wed: Section 7.1/7.2
  • Fri: Finish 7.2, start 7.3 (if time)
    • Handout for homework, 7.2
    • Slides for 7.3
    • Handout for 7.3
• Week 12 (Nov 17-21)
  • Mon: Finish 7.3
  • Wed: Section 7.4
    • Slides for 7.4
    • Handout for 7.4
    • Homework for 7.4 (Book only has 1 question).
    Homework is due Thursday evening:
    Homework to turn in:
    7.1: #3 in the text (see example 3), #10 in the text, #13 on the handout (do that one using a spreadsheet; copy/paste the end result into a Google doc, or take a screenshot of your results. You can use Excel or LibreOffice Calc (or something else, but it should be a spreadsheet program).
    7.2: Not much in the book, so I made up a handout (the handout covered 7.1-7.4- I'll also post on the website). In the 7.2 handout, turn in #1 and #3.
    7.3: For the tableaux in exercises 1 and 3 from 7.1, get an initial BFS using Vogel's Approximation Method for #1 and the NW Corner rule for #3.
    
  • Fri: Section 7.5
    • Slides for 7.5
• Week 13 (Dec 1 - 5)
  • Mon: Finished 7.5 (Hungarian Algorithm, with extensions).
  • Wed: Finished 7.6 (Transhipment problems)
  • Fri: Section 8.1-2 (Networks)
    Homework that's due on Sunday evening
    7.4: 1-4
    7.5: 4
    7.6: Skip for now.
    8.2: 2, 7.
• Week 14 (Dec 8-12)
  • Mon: Started 8.3
  • Wed: Finish 8.3. Instructions for the final exam discussed.
  • Fri: No class. This time may be used to prep for the final.

Exam Links

• Exam 1:
  • Topics for the first exam
  • Sample questions for the first exam
  • Solutions to the sample questions
• Exam 2:
  • Topics for Exam 2 (updated to include the formula that will be provided in class)
  • Exam 2 review questions
  • Solutions to the Exam 2 review questions
  • Solutions to the Chapter 6 Review section (listed in the review set above)
  • Quiz 4 solutions
• Final Exam:
  • The final exam will be a take-home final.
  • Here is the Final Exam
  • The final exam solutions are due no later than Wednesday, Dec 17, at 11:59 PM.

Software Links

• Download page for LINDO. We'll be using the ``Classic LINDO'' at the bottom of the link page, which is set up for Windows. We may also look at LINGO later.
• Linux version of LINGO
• The LINDO User's Manual is here. The "help" features don't seem to work using "wine" under Linux.
• Directory for Maple downloads. Note that this is an old version, and is not compatible with new Mac OS.
• Links to LibreOffice, which includes free software that emulates Word and Excel.
• Online linear system solver.
  
  
• Here is a short video showing you how to install Maple on your home computer, should you want to try it out: NOTE ON THE VIDEO BELOW. Change the server name from winapp.whitman.edu to winapp3.whitman.edu. Because Maple goes to this server, you can only use it when you're on Whitman's network.

For the Curious...

• Informs.org is the professional organization for people working in Operations Research and Management Science.
• Newsletter (you can see what's current in OR)