Linear programming knowledge in first stage higher education courses

In this work we will describe an experimental study with approximately fifty Portuguese students of the 2nd year of the BSc Degree of Biomedical Engineering as well as Chemical and Biological Engineering Higher Education Courses. The aims of this study are to identify which knowledge of Linear Programming (LP) taught in High School the students acquired and still remember, which tools they used in that stage of education when learning the theme of LP and their opinion about the significance of LP in daily life problem resolution. We also propose to investigate if the students are able to use WinQSB software to solve LP problems. In addition, we intend to identify not only the versatility of this software but also the opinion of the students about the resolution of LP problems with WinQSB, as well as their main difficulties during this experience