The following figure shows an Input/Output overview of ANALYZE. The only required input file to ANALYZE is a matrix file. This is the (de facto) standard MPS file, which is accepted by all commercial optimizers and can be generated by most LP modeling languages. For model analysis this may be sufficient, but other files are useful, such as a solution file from an optimizer.
Click here for a graphic Input-Output view of ANALYZE.
There are three levels of use. At the lowest level, ANALYZE provides convenient interactive query to navigate through a linear program (LP), perhaps with a solution already obtained from some solver (a solution is not necessary to use ANALYZE productively). A second level of use provides procedures to assist analysis in a variety of ways. Standard sensitivity questions, such as What if...?, Why...? and Why not...?, can be answered with easy access to information about the solution. In addition, diagnostic analysis, such as when the LP is infeasible, can be resolved efficiently. The third level provides an artificially intelligent environment with results automatically translated into English. This is especially well suited for a non-expert of linear programming, but the syntax that enables the translation must be setup by an LP expert (sometimes called the model manager). A DOS version of ANALYZE, with student-size problem dimensions, is available from Kluwer Academic Publishers (ISBN O-7923-9322-8). Other platforms are available. The basic reference is:
