Professor George Dantzig, Stanford Operations Research Dept.

Professor George Dantzig, Stanford Operations Research Dept.: "Linear programming and its offspring (such as nonlinear constrained optimization and integer programming) have come of age and have demonstrably passed this test, and they are fundamentally affecting the economic practice of organizations and management. Computer scientist Laszlo Lovasz said in 1980, 'If one would take statistics about which mathematical problem is using up most of the computer time in the world, then (not including database handling problems like sorting and searching) the answer would probably be linear programming.' That same year, Eugene Lawler of Berkeley offered the following summary: 'It [linear programming] is used to allocate resources, plan production, schedule workers, plan investment portfolios and formulate marketing (and military) strategies. The versatility and economic impact of linear programming in today's industrial world is truly awesome.'"