diff --git a/how_tos/data/maxcut.lp b/how_tos/data/maxcut.lp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4bc0610
--- /dev/null
+++ b/how_tos/data/maxcut.lp
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+\ This file has been generated by DOcplex
+\ ENCODING=ISO-8859-1
+\Problem name: Max-cut
+
+Maximize
+ obj: 3 x_0 + 3 x_1 + 3 x_2 + 3 x_3 + 3 x_4 + 3 x_5 + 3 x_6 + 3 x_7 + 3 x_8
+      + 3 x_9 + [ - 4 x_0*x_3 - 4 x_0*x_5 - 4 x_0*x_7 - 4 x_1*x_2 - 4 x_1*x_4
+      - 4 x_1*x_6 - 4 x_2*x_3 - 4 x_2*x_8 - 4 x_3*x_5 - 4 x_4*x_6 - 4 x_4*x_9
+      - 4 x_5*x_8 - 4 x_6*x_9 - 4 x_7*x_8 - 4 x_7*x_9 ]/2
+Subject To
+
+Bounds
+ 0 <= x_0 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_1 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_2 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_3 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_4 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_5 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_6 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_7 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_8 <= 1
+ 0 <= x_9 <= 1
+
+Binaries
+ x_0 x_1 x_2 x_3 x_4 x_5 x_6 x_7 x_8 x_9
+End
diff --git a/how_tos/qiskit_patterns.ipynb b/how_tos/qiskit_patterns.ipynb
index 23521f4..eac99aa 100644
--- a/how_tos/qiskit_patterns.ipynb
+++ b/how_tos/qiskit_patterns.ipynb
@@ -66,9 +66,65 @@
     "\\end{align}\n",
     "\n",
     "We refer to this Hamiltonian as the **cost function Hamiltonian**. It has the property that its gound state corresponds to the solution that **minimizes the cost function $f(x)$**.\n",
-    "Therefore, to solve our optimization problem we now need to prepare the ground state of $H_C$ (or a state with a high overlap with it) on the quantum computer. Then, sampling from this state will, with a high probability, yield the solution to $min f(x)$.\n",
-    "\n",
-    "**TODO** Load a file with the LP and convert to an Ising Hamiltonian to feed into step 2:"
+    "Therefore, to solve our optimization problem we now need to prepare the ground state of $H_C$ (or a state with a high overlap with it) on the quantum computer. Then, sampling from this state will, with a high probability, yield the solution to $min f(x)$."
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 6,
+   "id": "f10e9e18",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [
+    {
+     "name": "stdout",
+     "output_type": "stream",
+     "text": [
+      "\\ This file has been generated by DOcplex\n",
+      "\\ ENCODING=ISO-8859-1\n",
+      "\\Problem name: Max-cut\n",
+      "\n",
+      "Maximize\n",
+      " obj: 3 x_0 + 3 x_1 + 3 x_2 + 3 x_3 + 3 x_4 + 3 x_5 + 3 x_6 + 3 x_7 + 3 x_8\n",
+      "      + 3 x_9 + [ - 4 x_0*x_3 - 4 x_0*x_5 - 4 x_0*x_7 - 4 x_1*x_2 - 4 x_1*x_4\n",
+      "      - 4 x_1*x_6 - 4 x_2*x_3 - 4 x_2*x_8 - 4 x_3*x_5 - 4 x_4*x_6 - 4 x_4*x_9\n",
+      "      - 4 x_5*x_8 - 4 x_6*x_9 - 4 x_7*x_8 - 4 x_7*x_9 ]/2\n",
+      "Subject To\n",
+      "\n",
+      "Bounds\n",
+      " 0 <= x_0 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_1 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_2 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_3 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_4 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_5 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_6 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_7 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_8 <= 1\n",
+      " 0 <= x_9 <= 1\n",
+      "\n",
+      "Binaries\n",
+      " x_0 x_1 x_2 x_3 x_4 x_5 x_6 x_7 x_8 x_9\n",
+      "End\n",
+      "\n"
+     ]
+    }
+   ],
+   "source": [
+    "# load a lp file\n",
+    "lp_file = \"data/maxcut.lp\"\n",
+    "with open(lp_file, \"r\") as file:\n",
+    "    problem = file.read()\n",
+    "print(problem)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "5df5c152",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "### TODO: \n",
+    "- [x] load LP file (use a dummy graph) and print it.\n",
+    "- [ ] load Ising hamiltonian and print first few terms."
    ]
   },
   {
@@ -94,7 +150,9 @@
    "id": "293450a9",
    "metadata": {},
    "source": [
-    "**TODO**: Take the Ising Hamiltonian from Step 1. We are loading a dummy Hamiltonian in the meantime"
+    "**TODO**: Take the Ising Hamiltonian from Step 1. We are loading a dummy Hamiltonian in the meantime\n",
+    "\n",
+    "\n"
    ]
   },
   {
@@ -477,7 +535,7 @@
    "name": "python",
    "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
    "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
-   "version": "3.10.2"
+   "version": "3.10.11"
   }
  },
  "nbformat": 4,