| Abstract: | This paper shows how the mathematical and the engineering points of view are complementary and help to model real problems that can be stated as systems of linear equations and inequalities. The paper is devoted to point out these relations and making them explicit for the readers to realize about the new possibilities that arise when contemplating the compatibility conditions or the set of general solutions from the dual perspective. After reviewing an orthogonally based powerful algorithm to analyse the compatibility of linear systems of equations and solving them, a water supply problem is used to illustrate its mathematical and engineering multiple aspects, including the optimal statement of the problem in terms of an adequate selection and numbering of equations and unknowns, an analysis of the compatibility conditions and a physical interpretation of the general solution, together with that of each individual generators of the affine space. The possibilities of removing unknowns without altering the compatibility of the problem is also analysed. Next, the Γ‐algorithm to analyse the compatibility of linear systems of inequalities and solving them is described and then, the water supply problem is revisited adding some constraints, such as capacity limits for the pipes and retention valves, and discussed as to how they affect the resulting general solution and other aspects. Finally, some conclusions are derived. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
