Linear programming restricted to rational coefficients
In order to consider the computational complexity of linear programming, we need a way of encoding an instance of linear programming as a string. In particular, we need to fix an encoding of the coefficients, noting that arbitrary real coefficients cannot be encoded in a finite manner. The simplest and most canonical possibility is to ask for all coefficients to be integers or, equivalently, rational. In practice this encoding is usually good enough, so there is no reason to look any further. In principle, however, it is perfectly possible to consider more complicated coefficients. Indeed, any field which supports efficient linear algebra would do.

A feasible linear program always has a basic feasible solution, which is obtained by taking $n$ linearly independent inequalities (where $n$ is the number of variables), and replacing them with equations. The solution of this linear system will always be rational, and furthermore will be polynomially bounded.

Later on you might learn about semidefinite programs (SDPs). In the case of SDPs, we are no longer guaranteed that there exist an optimal solution over the rationals, but there is always an algebraic solution with bounded algebraic degree over the rationals. This fine point has recently been a cause for worry, see Ryan O'Donnell's SOS is not obviously automatizable, even approximately.