This paper describes a mathematical programming generatorthat interprets problem statements written in the algebraicnotation found in journal articles and text-books and outputsstatements in the 'MPS formatacirc; used by IBMacirc; s MPSX mathematicalprogramming system. The system has been implemented in the APLprogramming language. Although originally designed forstand-alone use, it is currently being used as a component in anexpert system that will help users formulate large linearprogramming models, The paper describes the syntax of the problemdefinition language and gives some illustrative examples. Thereare several unique features. First, the user can define objectivefunction, constraint and right-hand-side coefficients as APLexpressions. This leads to concise problem statements and alsoreduces data storage and processing requirements. Second, thesystem supports an integrated data base query language. Finally,there are a number of aids for model maintenance and sensitivityanalysis. The last section of the paper describes the use ofMPGEN in the expert system context
