Using Mixed Integer Programming to Win a Cycling Game
Jeroen Beliën
Campus Economische Hogeschool, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, and Department of Decision Sciences and Information Management, Research Center for Operations Management, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, jeroen.belien@hubrussel.be
Dries Goossens
Department of Decision Sciences and Information Management, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, ORSTAT, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, dries.goossens@econ.kuleuven.be
Daam Van Reeth
Campus Economische Hogeschool, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, daam.vanreeth@hubrussel.be
Liesje De Boeck
Campus Economische Hogeschool, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, and Department of Decision Sciences and Information Management, Research Center for Operations Management, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, liesje.deboeck@hubrussel.be
Abstract
This paper presents an application of optimization modeling to the winning of a popular cycling game. The application includes real-life data of contempory cyclists. It also has the potential to motivate students with a competitive but fun "race" for a solution. Because the developed optimization model contains features of knapsack problems, multiperiod inventory problems, and logical constraint modeling, it is perfectly suitable for a concluding case study in an undergraduate operations research/management science course. The application was originally developed for an MBA operations research course focusing on spreadsheet modeling skills, but it can also be used in courses that focus on algebraic modeling of optimization problems.
Key words
cycling; game; spreadsheet modeling; mixed-integer programming; knapsack problems; multiperiod inventory problems
History
Received: May 2009; accepted: August 2010
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Citation Information
Beliën, J., D. Goosens, D. Van Reeth, L. De Boeck. 2011. Using mixed-integer programming to win a cycling game. INFORMS Trans. Ed. 11(3) 93-99. Available online at http://ite.pubs.informs.org/.