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Simplex Ladder

Who This Is For

Use this ladder when the optimization story is already continuous and linear, and you now need one contest-time LP solver instead of one more proof-only lens.

Warm-Up

  • normalize every constraint into Ax <= b
  • tell continuous LP apart from integer programming

Core

  • variable-per-product or variable-per-plan modeling
  • trust the three status outcomes: optimal, infeasible, unbounded

Repo Anchors

Stretch

  • read one LP-heavy official statement and decide whether the numeric solver is actually the right route
  • explain why one flow-style task should not be solved with generic simplex even if it can be written as an LP

Compare Points

This ladder is intentionally sparse. The point is not to collect many simplex tasks. The point is to know when one LP solver is the cleanest honest route.

Exit Criteria

You are ready to move on when you can:

  • translate a blend / diet / resource-allocation statement into maximize c^T x, Ax <= b, x >= 0
  • explain the meanings of optimal, infeasible, and unbounded
  • reject simplex quickly when the task is really flow, DP, or integer programming

External Practice