Introduction

Network optimization is a special type of linear programming model. Network models have three main advantages over linear programming:

1. They can be solved very quickly. Problems whose linear program would have 1000 rows and 30,000 columns can be solved in a matter of seconds. This allows network models to be used in many applications (such as real-time decision making) for which linear programming would be inappropriate.
2. They have naturally integer solutions. By recognizing that a problem can be formulated as a network program, it is possible to solve special types of integer programs without resorting to the ineffective and time consuming integer programming algorithms.
3. They are intuitive. Network models provide a language for talking about problems that is much more intuitive than the ``variables, objective, and constraints'' language of linear and integer programming.

Of course these advantages come with a drawback: network models cannot formulate the wide range of models that linear and integer programs can. However, they occur often enough that they form an important tool for real decision making.