PLAM: ProLog and Algebraic Modelling

Algebraic modelling is an important technique in practical applications that require to formulate and to solve a mathematical programming problem. We show how the basic functionality of algebraic modelling systems can be realised very easily in a logic programming system like Prolog. Moreover, we illustrate the additional power of using logic programming in cases where the built-in constructs of traditional modelling languages are not sufficient. 1 Introduction Many practical problems require to formulate and to solve a mathematical programming problem, i.e. optimising an objective function with respect to a set of constraints. Such problems are usually solved in three stages [7, 9, 10]: ffl Building a model of the problem. ffl Solving the model. ffl Understanding and analysing the solution. Algebraic modelling systems are an important tool in the first phase of this process. They provide a natural and declarative means of describing mathematical programming problems to a computer..