ABSTRACT
Optimization problems are widespread and appear frequently in a variety of common, everyday applications. For example, a shipping company handles containers of varying sizes and shapes, and wants to pack the maximum possible number into a fixed space. This packing plan must be generated for each truck. An airport wants to determine the fastest pattern for their fleet of snow plows and dump trucks for clearing
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snow from the runways. Since heavier snowfall will require more trips by the dump trucks, they also need the plowing pattern generator to include the rate of snowfall in the computations. Finally, consider a school district that needs to reduce the amount of fuel used by its 40 buses, and wants to determine the shortest route that will allow children to be picked up at their homes. The district has a call-in system for children who need not be picked up on a particular day, so the route plan has to be updated every morning.
