Although quadratic programming (QP) is often studied as a methodology by decision scientists, little emphasis seems to be given to the type of decision science problems that can be so modeled. This paper reviews and extends some of the applied and methodological areas where QP is applicable, discussing and illustrating the characteristics and aspects of the accompanying solutions. Some of the methodological areas amenable include regression analysis, decision analysis, and quadratic approximations to generally complex functions. In the functional management areas, QP is applicable to problems in economics, such as demand-supply response and enterprise selection. In finance, it is used in portfolio analysis; in agriculture, in crop selection. Both the methodological and functional applications of QP are reviewed. Potential new applications of QP are suggested.
