Letters to the Editor
'Dantzig' the Optimality Jig
To the Editor:
My daughter, Anne, is in sixth grade. She was recently assigned the project of doing a profile on a famous mathematician. With a little (i.e., a lot) of encouragement from Dad, she chose George Dantzig as her subject. Every time I mentioned his name, she would break into a little jig due to the simple sixth-grade equation that "Dantzig" = "dancing." This led me to compose the following limerick for her multi-media project:
The mathematician DantzigAlas, my poetry did not make the cut in her opinion. Instead she and her project partner, Louise Gilmer, composed the following charming ditty, which they delivered while dressed as George Dantzig and his wife:
Made linear programming big.
This massive advance
Made everyone dance
The optimality jig!
Linear programming used to be hardWhereupon they gave a brief explanation of the simplex method.
But now it's as easy as raking your yard!
We got this help from the simplex method
Which George Dantzig had invented.
By looking at the corners joint
We can find the optimum point.
When all constraints are satisfied
We know our answer's certified!
A special thanks to George Dantzig
For inventing the following thingamajig ...
It's never too early to start recruiting the next generation of operations researchers!
John W. Chinneck
Ottawa, Ontario
John W. Chinneck is an associate professor of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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