sci.op-research

saneman wrote:
> What is the difference between simplex and branch and bound? As I
> understand they can both be used to solve linear programs.

No. Simplex is used to solve linear programs. Branch and bound (a.k.a.
branch and cut) is used to solve integer or mixed integer problems. The
"branch" part indicates what you might call a divide-and-conquer
strategy (partial enumeration). When the problem has linear constraints
and a linear objective (but some integer variables), branch and bound
typically uses one of the simplex variants (or possibly an interior
point algorithm) to solve an LP at each node (the node relaxation problem).

/Paul