Teaching Note—An Animated Demonstration of the Uncapacitated Network Simplex Algorithm

Abstract

Please scroll down for article-it is on subsequent pagesWith 12,500 members from nearly 90 countries, INFORMS is the largest international association of operations research (O.R.) and analytics professionals and students. INFORMS provides unique networking and learning opportunities for individual professionals, and organizations of all types and sizes, to better understand and use O.R. and analytics tools and methods to transform strategic visions and achieve better outcomes. For more information on INFORMS, its publications, membership, or meetings visit O perations Research (OR) instructors use visualizations to help teach graph algorithms and data structures.Algorithm visualization is an illustration of abstract concepts included in computer algorithms, making use of either static or dynamic (animated) computer graphics. In this paper we present new software that includes an animated demonstration of the uncapacitated primal network simplex algorithm. The aim of the animation software is twofold. First, it aims to help OR students understand the algorithm. The algorithm is difficult to grasp for many students because it generates a sequence of rooted trees. Second, it aims to enable OR instructors to explain each iteration of the algorithm visually with minimal effort. The software can be used in combinatorial optimization, graph theory, and similar courses. The software has been implemented as a Java applet, is freely available and highly interactive, and can be accessed through the Web. The software shows the solution process through textual information and depicts the relevant steps in pseudo code using multiple views.

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