I am teaching some GAMS classes, and a question arose: "
How does the Simplex method work?" It's not easy to answer in a few sentences, but I want to touch upon the concept of a
basis anyway. Once you have a good intuition of what a basis is, a simple Simplex method is not so far-fetched. I find the tableau presentation somewhat confusing and far removed from what actual Simplex solvers do. I strongly prefer the Revised Simplex Method in matrix notation.
Minor rant: I just don't understand the appeal of the tableau method. It looks to me like an invention for torturing undergrad students. Most of all, it is not very structure-revealing; it does not help you understand the underlying concepts. But about 100% of the LP textbooks insist we should learn that first.
As a gimmick, I implemented a simplified version in the GAMS language. This reminds me that someone spent the effort writing a Basic interpreter in TeX [1]. This is probably just as useful.