A path-following version of the Todd-Burrell procedure for linear programming

We propose a path-following version of the Todd-Burrell procedure to solve linear programming problems with an unknown optimal value. The path-following scheme is not restricted to Karmarkar's primal step; it can also be implemented with a dual Newton step or with a primal-dual step.This work has been completed with the support from the Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique, grant 12-34002.92.     

AnO(\sqrt n L) iteration bound primal-dual cone affine scaling algorithm for linear programmingiteration bound primal-dual cone affine scaling algorithm for linear programming

In this paper we introduce a primal-dual affine scaling method. The method uses a search-direction obtained by minimizing the duality gap over a linearly transformed conic section. This direction neither coincides with known primal-dual affine scaling directions (Jansen et al., 1993; Monteiro et al., 1990), nor does it fit in the generic primal-dual method (Kojima et al., 1989). The new method requires main iterations. It is shown that the iterates follow the primal-dual central path in a neighbourhood larger than the conventional neighbourhood. The proximity to the primal-dual central path is measured by trigonometric functions.     

Containing and shrinking ellipsoids in the path-following algorithm

We describe a new potential function and a sequence of ellipsoids in the path-following algorithm for convex quadratic programming. Each ellipsoid in the sequence contains all of the optimal primal and dual slack vectors. Furthermore, the volumes of the ellipsoids shrink at the ratio , in comparison to 2^–(1) in Karmarkar's algorithm and 2^–(1/n) in the ellipsoid method. We also show how to use these ellipsoids to identify the optimal basis in the course of the algorithm for linear programming.Research supported by The U.S. Army Research Office through The Mathematical Sciences Institute of Cornell University when the author was visiting at Cornell.Research supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant ECS-8602534 and Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-87-K-0212.     

A primal-dual interior-point algorithm for quadratic programming

In this paper we propose a primal-dual interior-point method for large, sparse, quadratic programming problems. The method is based on a reduction presented by Gonzalez-Lima, Wei, and Wolkowicz [14] in order to solve the linear systems arising in the primal-dual methods for linear programming. The main features of this reduction is that it is well defined at the solution set and it preserves sparsity. These properties add robustness and stability to the algorithm and very accurate solutions can be obtained. We describe the method and we consider different reductions using the same framework. We discuss the relationship of our proposals and the one used in the LOQO code. We compare and study the different approaches by performing numerical experimentation using problems from the Maros and Meszaros collection. We also include a brief discussion on the meaning and effect of ill-conditioning when solving linear systems.This work was partially supported by DID-USB (GID-001).     

An implementation of Karmarkar's algorithm for linear programming

This paper describes the implementation of power series dual affine scaling variants of Karmarkar's algorithm for linear programming. Based on a continuous version of Karmarkar's algorithm, two variants resulting from first and second order approximations of the continuous trajectory are implemented and tested. Linear programs are expressed in an inequality form, which allows for the inexact computation of the algorithm's direction of improvement, resulting in a significant computational advantage. Implementation issues particular to this family of algorithms, such as treatment of dense columns, are discussed. The code is tested on several standard linear programming problems and compares favorably with the simplex codeMinos 4.0.     

A lower bound on the number of iterations of long-step primal-dual linear programming algorithms

Recently, Todd has analyzed in detail the primal-dual affine-scaling method for linear programming, which is close to what is implemented in practice, and proved that it may take at leastn ^1/3 iterations to improve the initial duality gap by a constant factor. He also showed that this lower bound holds for some polynomial variants of primal-dual interior-point methods, which restrict all iterates to certain neighborhoods of the central path. In this paper, we further extend his result to long-step primal-dual variants that restrict the iterates to a wider neighborhood. This neigh-borhood seems the least restrictive one to guarantee polynomiality for primal-dual path-following methods, and the variants are also even closer to what is implemented in practice.Research supported in part by NSF, AFOSR and ONR through NSF Grant DMS-8920550.This author is supported in part by NSF Grant DDM-9207347. Part of thiw work was done while the author was on a sabbatical leave from the University of Iowa and visiting the Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, supported in part by the Cornell Center for Applied Mathematics and by the Advanced Computing Research Institute, a unit of the Cornell Theory Center, which receives major funding from the National Science Foundation and IBM Corporation, with additional support from New York State and members of its Corporate Research Institute.     

A primal—dual affine-scaling potential-reduction algorithm for linear programming

We propose a potential-reduction algorithm which always uses the primal—dual affine-scaling direction as a search direction. We choose a step size at each iteration of the algorithm such that the potential function does not increase, so that we can take a longer step size than the minimizing point of the potential function. We show that the algorithm is polynomial-time bounded. We also propose a low-complexity algorithm, in which the centering direction is used whenever an iterate is far from the path of centers.This paper is dedicated to Phil Wolfe on the occasion of his 65th birthday.     

Superlinear and quadratic convergence of primal-dual interior-point methods for linear programming revisited

Recently, Zhang, Tapia, and Dennis (Ref. 1) produced a superlinear and quadratic convergence theory for the duality gap sequence in primal-dual interior-point methods for linear programming. In this theory, a basic assumption for superlinear convergence is the convergence of the iteration sequence; and a basic assumption for quadratic convergence is nondegeneracy. Several recent research projects have either used or built on this theory under one or both of the above-mentioned assumptions. In this paper, we remove both assumptions from the Zhang-Tapia-Dennis theory.Dedicated to the Memory of Magnus R. Hestenes, 1906–1991This research was supported in part by NSF Cooperative Agreement CCR-88-09615 and was initiated while the first author was at Rice University as a Visiting Member of the Center for Research in Parallel Computation.The authors thank Yinyu Ye for constructive comments and discussions concerning this material.This author was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-91-02761 and DOE Grant DE-FG05-91-ER25100.This author was supported in part by AFOSR Grant 89-0363, DOE Grant DE-FG05-86-ER25017, and ARO Grant 9DAAL03-90-G-0093.     

A randomized algorithm for fixed-dimensional linear programming

We give a (Las Vegas) randomized algorithm for linear programming in a fixed dimensiond for which the expected computation time is , where lim _{d d} = 0. This improves the corresponding worst-case complexity, . The method is based on a recent idea of Clarkson. Two variations on the algorithm are examined briefly.     

A variant of Karmarkar's linear programming algorithm for problems in standard form

This paper presents a variant of Karmarkar's linear programming algorithm that works directly with problems expressed in standard form and requires no a priori knowledge of the optimal objective function value. Rather, it uses a variation on Todd and Burrell's approach to compute ever better bounds on the optimal value, and it can be run as a prima-dual algorithm that produces sequences of primal and dual feasible solutions whose objective function values convege to this value. The only restrictive assumption is that the feasible region is bounded with a nonempty interior; compactness of the feasible region can be relaxed to compactness of the (nonempty) set of optimal solutions.     

A polynomial-time algorithm,based on Newton's method,for linear programming

A new interior method for linear programming is presented and a polynomial time bound for it is proven. The proof is substantially different from those given for the ellipsoid algorithm and for Karmarkar's algorithm. Also, the algorithm is conceptually simpler than either of those algorithms.This research was supported by an NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and by NSF Grant 8120790. The research was performed at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California.     

Long-step primal-dual target-following algorithms for linear programming

In this paper we propose a long-step target-following methodology for linear programming. This is a general framework, that enables us to analyze various long-step primal-dual algorithms in the literature in a short and uniform way. Among these are long-step central and weighted path-following methods and algorithms to compute a central point or a weighted center. Moreover, we use it to analyze a method with the property that starting from an initial noncentral point, generates iterates that simultaneously get closer to optimality and closer to centrality.This work is completed with the support of a research grant from SHELL.The first author is supported by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), grant 611-304-028.The fourth author is supported by the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research, grant 12-34002.92.     

Inexact primal-dual interior point iteration for linear programs in function spaces

Motivated by a simple optimal control problem with state constraints, we consider an inexact implementation of the primal-dual interior point algorithm of Zhang, Tapia, and Dennis. We show how the control problem can be formulated as a linear program in an infinite dimensional space in two different ways and prove convergence results.The research of this author was supported by an Overseas Research Scholarship of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan.The research of this author was supported by National Science Foundation grants #DMS-9024622 and #DMS-9321938, North Atlantic Treaty Organization grant #CRG 920067, and an allocation of computing resources from the North Carolina Supercomputing Program.The research of this author was supported by North Atlantic Treaty Organization grant #CRG 920067.     

Multiple centrality corrections in a primal-dual method for linear programming

A modification of the (infeasible) primal-dual interior point method is developed. The method uses multiple corrections to improve the centrality of the current iterate. The maximum number of corrections the algorithm is encouraged to make depends on the ratio of the efforts to solve and to factorize the KKT systems. For any LP problem, this ratio is determined right after preprocessing the KKT system and prior to the optimization process. The harder the factorization, the more advantageous the higher-order corrections might prove to be.The computational performance of the method is studied on more difficult Netlib problems as well as on tougher and larger real-life LP models arising from applications. The use of multiple centrality corrections gives on the average a 25% to 40% reduction in the number of iterations compared with the widely used second-order predictor-corrector method. This translates into 20% to 30% savings in CPU time.Supported by the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique Suisse, Grant #12-34002.92.     

A new primal-dual path-following interior-point algorithm for semidefinite optimization

In this paper we present a new primal-dual path-following interior-point algorithm for semidefinite optimization. The algorithm is based on a new technique for finding the search direction and the strategy of the central path. At each iteration, we use only full Nesterov-Todd step. Moreover, we obtain the currently best known iteration bound for the algorithm with small-update method, namely, , which is as good as the linear analogue.     

一类线性与框式约束凸规划问题的原始-对偶内点算法

本文对一类具有线性和框式约束的凸规划问题给出了一个原始-对偶内点算法, 该算法可在任一原始-对偶可行内点启动, 并且全局收敛,当初始点靠近中心路径时, 算法成为中心路径跟踪算法。 数值实验表明, 算法对求解大型的这类问题是有效的。     

Stability of the primal-dual partition in linear semi-infinite programming

We analyse the primal-dual states in linear semi-infinite programming (LSIP), where we consider the primal problem and the so called Haar's dual problem. Any linear programming problem and its dual can be classified as bounded, unbounded or inconsistent, giving rise to nine possible primal-dual states, which are reduced to six by the weak duality property. Recently, Goberna and Todorov have studied this partition and its stability in continuous LSIP in a series of papers [M.A. Goberna and M.I. Todorov, Primal, dual and primal-dual partitions in continuous linear semi-infinite programming, Optimization 56 (2007), pp. 617–628; M.A. Goberna and M.I. Todorov, Generic primal-dual solvability in continuous linear semi-infinite programming, Optimization 57 (2008), pp. 239–248]. In this article we consider the general case, with no continuity assumptions, discussing the maintenance of the primal-dual state of the problem by allowing small perturbations of the data. We characterize the stability of all of the six possible primal-dual states through necessary and sufficient conditions which depend on the data, and can be easily checked, showing some differences with the continuous case. These conditions involve the strong Slater constraint qualification, and some distinguished convex sets associated to the data.     

一个新的求解半正定规划问题的原始对偶内点算法

选择合适的核函数对设计求解线性规划与半正定规划的原始对偶内点算法以及复杂性分析都十分重要.Bai等针对线性规划提出三种核函数,并给出求解线性规划的大步迭代复杂界,但未给出数值算例验证算法的实际效果(Bai Y Q,Xie W,Zhang J.New parameterized kernel functions for linear optimization.J Global Optim,2012.DOI 10.1007/s10898-012-9934-z).基于这三种核函数设计了新的求解半正定规划问题的原始对内点算法.进一步分析了算法关于大步方法的计算复杂性界,同时通过数值算例验证了算法的有效性和核函数所带参数对计算复杂性的影响.     

On the entropic perturbation and exponential penalty methods for linear programming

This note points out that the recently proposed exponential penalty approach to linear programming is identical to the well-known entropic perturbation approach. The primal and dual trajectories provided by these two approaches are shown to be equivalent.The work of the first author was supported partially by the North Carolina Supercomputing Center and 1995 Cray Research Grant.