The Mathematical Programming Society is an international organization dedicated to the promotion and the maintenance of high professional standards in the subject of mathematical programming. It is incorporated as a non-profit tax-exempt scientific organization in the United States. It publishes the journals Mathematical Programming A and B, consisting of technical articles on all aspects of the subject; the MPS/SIAM Series on Optimization, comprising monographs and texts on particular optimization topics; and the newsletter Optima. Every three years the Society sponsors the International Symposium on Mathematical Programming. Every other year it supports the Conference on Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization (IPCO). It awards a number of the most prestigious prizes in the field. The Society also sponsors and supports other meetings and activities in mathematical programming throughout the world.

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In a mathematical programming or optimization problem, one seeks to minimize or maximize a real function of real or integer variables, subject to constraints on the variables. The term mathematical programming refers to the study of these problems: their mathematical properties, the development and implementation of algorithms to solve these problems, and the application of these algorithms to real world problems. Note in particular the word "programming" does not specifically refer to computer programming. In fact, the term "mathematical programming" was coined before the word "programming" became closely associated with computer software. This confusion is sometimes avoided by using the term optimization as an approximate synonym for mathematical programming.

We have selected a few web sites here that give more information about mathematical programming and its many subdisciplines, including pointers to further reference sources. We've chosen these sites for their wide scope and their non-commercial, informational nature. Please get in touch with us if you know about other informational sites of potential interest.

• NEOS Guide, maintained by the Optimization Technology Center at Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University.
• Michael Trick's Operations Research Page
• Harvey Greenberg's Mathematical Programming Glossary
• Arnold Neumaier's page on Global (and Local) Optimization

See the Links page for more information.

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