Solving integer programming problems by dividing them into subproblems and using linear programming methods until integer solutions are found points to a general method for the exact solution of optimization problems. This method primarily involves setting up a tree structure in which to consider the entire feasible solution space for a problem in an organized manner.

First we shall merely enumerate the solution space and then refine our methods. In an attempt to save computation time and effort we also attempt to cut off our endeavors when we know that they will not succeed by computing upper and lower bounds on the possible solutions. This leads to a general method for solving optimization problems named branch and bound.

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