“Combinatorial Programming” are two words whose juxtaposition still strike us as unusual, nevertheless their association in recent years adequately reflects the preoccupations underlying differing work fields, and their importance will increase both from methodology and application view points. To those who like definitions and consider the function of this book to furnish one for combinatorial programming, I will simply say that it is preciseÂ- ly this which is exclusively treated here and which in the eyes of the autors is the heart of this branch of applied mathematics. Such was the initial intention of those who in the spring of 1973 gathered tog~ther in Paris to state the work of the Advanced Study Institute from which this book arises. As young as combinatorial programming is, it was easy to see that a two week school was insufficient to cover the subject in an exhaustive manner. Finally the decision had to be taken to reduce to book form, and to organise within this particular means of expression, the essential syntheses and communications. Unfortunately the discussions, the round tables, and the majority of the case studies could not be included in this book which is more of a hand-book on the subject. XIV PREFACE The choice and orientation of the surveys has been guided by two criteria : the importance of already accomplished work, and the originality of the survey to be undertaken.
