Linear approximation techniques have often been applied to nonlinear mathematical programming models for computational efficiency reasons. Price-endogenous agricultural sector models and risk models ...

L. E. Ward, Jr., Linear Programming and Approximation Problems, The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 68, No. 1 (Jan., 1961), pp. 46-53 ...

While conventional linear programming sought the maximum or minimum values of the evaluation function, all the solutions that satisfy the target values are considered as the solution set.