Overview of Linear Programming

Linear Programming is a subset of optimization. This post discusses about general form of linear programming, convexity, and geometry of LP (which is simplex).

Table of Contents

1. General Form of Linear Programming

We often use matrix form to express a linear programming problem.

\begin{array}{rllllllll} \min & f(\mathbf{x}) = \mathbf{c}^{\top} \mathbf{x} \\ \text{s.t.} & \mathbf{A}\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{b} \\ & \mathbf{x} \ge 0 \\ \text{where} & \mathbf{x} = \begin{bmatrix} x_{1} & x_{2} & \dots & x_{n} \end{bmatrix}^{\top} \\ & \mathbf{b} = \begin{bmatrix} b_{1} & b_{2} & \dots & b_{m} \end{bmatrix} \\ & \mathbf{c} = \begin{bmatrix} c_{1} & c_{2} & \dots & c_{n} \end{bmatrix} \\ & \mathbf{A} = \begin{bmatrix} a_{1,1} & a_{1,2} & \dots & a_{1,n} \\ a_{2,1} & a_{2,2} & \dots & a_{2,n} \\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ a_{m,1} & a_{m,2} & \dots & a_{m,n} \\ \end{bmatrix} \end{array}

2. Geometry of Linear Programming

3. Canonical Form

Date: 2026-06-20 Sat