Mathematical Programming Modeling Using MGG

MGG is a software package for the application of mathematical programming (MP). It complements the Sciconic MP code by providing a facility for developing MP models quickly and efficiently, and it enables changes to be made easily to established models. It is available on a wide range of minis and mainframes and a version of it is available as part of the Micro LP system on IBM PCs and compatibles. MGG is based on an approach to modelling MP problems which stresses the primacy of the mathematical formulation. The process of MP modelling is divided into two stages: model preparation and running of the model. The user writes a mathematical formulation, which MGG converts to matrix generator and report writer programs. This is done once to produce the programs which can then be run many times on different data. This paper describes MGG and draws comparisons with other matrix generator and mathematical programming languages. It starts by considering how an MP problem can be described, and then sets out a methodology for formulation. The MGG language is based upon this approach. A simple example is presente