An algorithm for a selection procedure

When we have a selection problem that involves qualitative information, we can use the qualitative programming method and find the optimal choice by using integer programming. However, in practice after formulation of the problem we have a large scale model. In this note we introduce a very effective method for solving a qualitative programming problem. The only operations used in this method are scalar and matrix addition, and hence for problems of reasonable size, the method does not need high speed computers, and can be supplemented using hand calculators. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.