Here is a trivia quiz for GRTMPS users and other LP and Excel aficionados. Quizzes not only allow you to show off how erudite you are, but also provide an opportunity to learn new stuff. I’ve tried for a mix of obvious and obscure. Like a lot of the music/movie questions from the public quizzes, you possibly have to be “a certain age” to have a clue about some of them. If you do this like a proper Pub Quiz, you can make it a team effort, but NO LOOKING THINGS UP – at least until have had a go off the top of your head. Then you could do a bit of research and Googling, if you want to do your utmost before looking at the answers.
| 1) | GRTMPS doesn't quite qualify as an acronym as it can't be pronounced (unless you treat the "T" as an "I") - but what does it stand for?; |
| 2) | What does the key sequence Alt-F4 normally do to a window? |
| 3) | In the model tree in the g5 GUI which is the one data node that does not have a panel associated with it and so gives you a blank display on the right when selected? |
| 4) | What GRTMPS table number are the utility codes written into? |
| 5) | In PSI-2, what do you put at the bottom of a list of input or output codes to indicate that you have finished? |
| 6) | From which major oil company did Haverly acquire the core technology that turned into the first version of H/CAMS? |
| 7) | What language is the GRTMPS matrix generator program written in? |
| 8) | What does IIS stand for in the field of optimization? |
| 9) | In an MPS format matrix, there is one “N” type row – what is it for? |
| 10) | If a column has the bounds LI 1 and UI 3 what values can it take? |
| 11) | Which Russian mathematician, regarded by many as the founding father of the mathematical discipline of Linear Programming, shared the 1975 Nobel prize for Economics for his work on optimal allocation of resources? |
| 12) | Larry Haverly's classic 1978 paper on the pooling problem was, of course, published under his full name. What are his initials? |
| 13) | What do you find in the BCD output file? |
| 14) | A show of hands at the user conference held in Edinburgh revealed that lots of people were still running Windows XP, even though it was about to go off support. What year was that? |
| 15) | Which two of these codes can’t be used as period identifiers in GRTMPS (g5)? X1 .A // B! 00 |
| 16) | According to Kathy, what is the first rule of travel? |
| 17) | If you get the error DICTDATA OVERFLOW when generating a matrix in GRTMPS, what parameter should you adjust? |
| 18) | If you give a paper at a Haverly conference, what do you get to take home with you? |
| 19) | In Excel, what do you get if you type Ctrl-; in a cell? |
| 20) | Dual and Primal are types of what algorithm? |
| 21) | 1-letter codes for which model objects are listed in GRTMPS TABLE R05.0? |
| 22) | In Excel, what do you type in the search box to find an asterisk in cell values? |
| 23) | Barrier optimization is faster if you use a basis file. TRUE or FALSE? |
| 24) | In a solution print, infeasible columns are marked with **. What does ++ indicate? |
| 25) | GRTMPS v6 will be out soon under what new name? |
| 26) | And finally, for which letter of the Latin alphabet do British and American English speakers use a different name? |
Here are the answers. How did you do?
From Kathy's Cabin: 13th October 2022.
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