ABSTRACT
A development company has purchased a tract of land and is currently devising a landuse development plan for it. Various landuse possibilities are available e.g. high density housing, medium density housing, low density housing, industry, open space, educational facilities etc. and, as a first step, the company wishes to determine the amount of land to be given over to each landuse. The importance of the examples cannot be over-emphasised for they demonstrate both the range of problems to which mathematical programming can be applied and the way in which specific problems can be conceptualised and formulated in mathematical terms. The most straightforward types of mathematical programming problem are those which deal with problems relating to some type of network. The technique of dynamic programming would appear to offer particular promise to geographers and planners who so often find themselves analysing complex real-world situations which cannot be dealt with mathematically as a single entity.
