An exterior point simplex algorithm for (general) linear programming problems

We present an exterior point simplex type algorithm that possesses a new monotonic property. A dual feasible basic solution is required to start with. Intermediate solutions are neither primal nor dual feasible. Cycling-free pivoting rules and an exponentional example are presented.     

A theoretical comparison between the simplex method and the basic line search algorithm

A theoretical comparison between the simplex method (SM) and the basic line search method (BLSA) is presented. The explicit formulae for the upper and lower bounds in the BLSA are provided using SM. Further, it is shown that both methods are operationally equivalent.     

Some fundamental issues of basic line search algorithm for linear programming problems

In this article we present the fundamental idea, concepts and theorems of a basic line search algorithm for solving linear programming problems which can be regarded as an extension of the simplex method. However, unlike the iteration of the simplex method from a basic point to an improved adjacent basic point via pivot operation, the basic line search algorithm, also by pivot operation, moves from a basic line which contains two basic feasible points to an improved basic line which also contains two basic feasible points whose objective values are no worse than that of the two basic feasible points on the previous basic line. The basic line search algorithm may skip some adjacent vertices so that it converges to an optimal solution faster than the simplex method. For example, for a 2-dimensional problem, the basic line search algorithm can find an optimal solution with only one iteration.     

Finding all maximal efficient faces in multiobjective linear programming

An algorithm for finding the whole efficient set of a multiobjective linear program is proposed. From the set of efficient edges incident to a vertex, a characterization of maximal efficient faces containing the vertex is given. By means of the lexicographic selection rule of Dantzig, Orden and Wolfe, a connectedness property of the set of dual optimal bases associated to a degenerate vertex is proved. An application of this to the problem of enumerating all the efficient edges incident to a degenerate vertex is proposed. Our method is illustrated with numerical examples and comparisons with Armand—Malivert's algorithm show that this new algorithm uses less computer time.     

A strictly improving linear programming Phase I algorithm

Instead of trying to recognize and avoid degenerate steps in the simplex method (as some variants do), we have developed a new Phase I algorithm that is impervious to degeneracy. The new algorithm solves a non-negative least-squares problem in order to find a Phase I solution. In each iteration, a simple two-variable least-squares subproblem is used to select an incoming column to augment a set of independent columns (called basic) to get a strictly better fit to the right-hand side. Although this is analogous in many ways to the simplex method, it can be proved that strict improvement is attained at each iteration, even in the presence of degeneracy. Thus cycling cannot occur, and convergence is guaranteed. This algorithm is closely related to a number of existing algorithms proposed for non-negative least-squares and quadratic programs.When used on the 30 smallest NETLIB linear programming test problems, the computational results for the new Phase I algorithm were almost 3.5 times faster than a particular implementation of the simplex method; on some problems, it was over 10 times faster. Best results were generally seen on the more degenerate problems.     

A simplex algorithm for piecewise-linear programming III: Computational analysis and applications

The first two parts of this paper have developed a simplex algorithm for minimizing convex separable piecewise-linear functions subject to linear constraints. This concluding part argues that a direct piecewiselinear simplex implementation has inherent advantages over an indirect approach that relies on transformation to a linear program. The advantages are shown to be implicit in relationships between the linear and piecewise-linear algorithms, and to be independent of many details of implementation. Two sets of computational results serve to illustarate these arguments; the piecewise-linear simplex algorithm is observed to run 2–6 times faster than a comparable linear algorithm, not including any additional expense that might be incurred in setting up the equivalent linear program. Further support for the practical value of a good piecewise-linear programming algorithm is provided by a survey of many varied applications.This research has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-8217261.     

The simplest examples where the simplex method cycles and conditions where expand fails to prevent cycling

This paper introduces a class of linear programming examples that cause the simplex method to cycle and that are the simplest possible examples showing this behaviour. The structure of examples from this class repeats after two iterations. Cycling is shown to occur for both the most negative reduced cost and steepest-edge column selection criteria. In addition it is shown that the expand anti-cycling procedure of Gill et al. is not guaranteed to prevent cycling.Work supported by EPSRC grant GR/J0842This paper is dedicated to Roger Fletcher, a friend and inspiration to us both. The discovery of Rogers book, Practical Methods of Optimization, whilst working in industry, set the first author on the road to Dundee and a career in optimization. Happy 65th birthday, Roger.     

On the solution of highly degenerate linear programmes

The solution of scheduling problems often gives rise to highly degenerate linear programmes which cause significant computational difficulties for the revised simplex method. Wolfe's highly effective ad hoc method for overcoming the cycling or stalling problems associated with degeneracy is described. Here it is given a geometric interpretation in terms of finding a direction of recession for a reduced problem which is fundamental to a full understanding of the procedure. An example of an aircrew scheduling problem is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the method.     

A simplex algorithm for piecewise-linear programming II: Finiteness,feasibility and degeneracy

The simplex method for linear programming can be extended to permit the minimization of any convex separable piecewise-linear objective, subject to linear constraints. Part I of this paper has developed a general and direct simplex algorithm for piecewise-linear programming, under convenient assumptions that guarantee a finite number of basic solutions, existence of basic feasible solutions, and nondegeneracy of all such solutions. Part II now shows how these assumptions can be weakened so that they pose no obstacle to effective use of the piecewise-linear simplex algorithm. The theory of piecewise-linear programming is thereby extended, and numerous features of linear programming are generalized or are seen in a new light. An analysis of the algorithm's computational requirements and a survey of applications will be presented in Part III.This research has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-8217261.     

Bounds on the number of vertices of perturbed polyhedra

Finding the incident edges to a degenerate vertex of a polyhedron is a non-trivial problem. So pivoting methods generally involve a perturbation argument to overcome the degeneracy problem. But the perturbation entails a bursting of each degenerate vertex into a cluster of nondegenerate vertices. The aim of this paper is to give some bounds on the number of these perturbed vertices.     

A practical anti-degeneracy row selection technique in network linear programming

A characteristic feature of the primal network simplex algorithm (NSA) is that it usually makes a large number of degenerate iterations. Though cycling and even stalling can be avoided by recently introduced pivot rules for NSA, the practical efficiency of these rules is not known yet. For the case when the simplex algorithm is used to solve the continuous linear programming (LP) problem there exists a practical anti-cycling procedure that proved to be efficient. It is based on an expanding relaxation of the individual bound on the variables. In this paper we discuss the adaptation of this method to NSA, taking advantage of the special integer nature of network problems. We also give an account of our experience with these ideas as they are experimentally implemented in the MINET network LP solver. Reductions of CPU time have been achieved on a smaller set of specially structured real-life problems.This research was supported in part by Hungarian Research Fund OTKA 2587, and by DAAD 314 108 060 0 while the author was at Universität Heidelberg, Germany, October, 1990.     

Reminiscences about the origins of linear programming

The author recalls the early days of linear programming, the contributions of von Neumann, Leontief, Koopmans and others.Linear Programming is viewed as a revolutionary development giving us the ability for the first time to state general objectives and to find, by means of the simplex method, optimal policy decisions for a broad class of practical decision problems of great complexity.     

求解0-1线性整数规划问题的有界单纯形法

提出了一种求解0-1线性整数规划问题的有界单纯形法, 不仅通过数学论证, 讨论了该方法的合理性, 奠定了其数学理论基础, 而且通过求解无容量设施选址问题, 验证了该方法的可行性. 在此基础上, 就该有界单纯形法的不足和存在的问题, 给出了进一步改进的途径和手段.     

A feasible direction method for linear programming

We discuss a finite method of a feasible direction for linear programming problems. The method begins with a feasible basic vector for the problem, constructs a profitable direction to move using the updated column vectors of the nonbasic variables eligible to enter this basic vector. It then moves in this direction as far as possible, while retaining feasibility. This move in general takes it though the relative interior of a face of th set of a feasible solutions. The final point, $\text{x}$, obtained at the end of this move will not in general be a basic solution. Using $\text{x}$ the method then constructs a basic feasible solution at which the objective value is better than, or the same as that at $\text{x}$. The whole process repeats with the new basic feasible solution. We show that this method can be implemented using basis inverses. Initial computer runs of this method in comparison with the usual edge following primary simplex algorithms are very encouraging.     

Sensitivity method for basis inverse representation in multistage stochastic linear programming problems

A version of the simplex method for solving stochastic linear control problems is presented. The method uses a compact basis inverse representation that extensively exploits the original problem data and takes advantage of the supersparse structure of the problem. Computational experience indicates that the method is capable of solving large problems.This research was supported by Programs CPBP02.15 and RPI.02.     

Finite algorithm for generalized linear multiplicative programming

The nonconvex problem of minimizing the sum of a linear function and the product of two linear functions over a convex polyhedron is considered. A finite algorithm is proposed which either finds a global optimum or shows that the objective function is unbounded from below in the feasible region. This is done by means of a sequence of primal and/or dual simplex iterations.The first author gratefully acknowledges the research support received as Visiting Professor of the Dipartimento di Statistica e Matematica Applicata all' Economia, Universitá di Pisa, Pisa, Italy, Spring 1992.     

A recursive quadratic programming algorithm that uses differentiable exact penalty functions

In this paper, a recursive quadratic programming algorithm for solving equality constrained optimization problems is proposed and studied. The line search functions used are approximations to Fletcher's differentiable exact penalty function. Global convergence and local superlinear convergence results are proved, and some numerical results are given.     

非线性半定规划一个全局收敛的无罚无滤子SSDP算法

提出了一个求解非线性半定规划的无罚函数无滤子序列二次半定规划(SSDP)算法. 算法每次迭代只需求解一个二次半定规划子问题确定搜索方向; 非单调线搜索保证目标函数或约束违反度函数的充分下降, 从而产生新的迭代点. 在适当的假设条件下, 证明了算法的全局收敛性. 最后给出了初步的数值实验结果.     

A practical anti-cycling procedure for linearly constrained optimization

A procedure is described for preventing cycling in active-set methods for linearly constrained optimization, including the simplex method. The key ideas are a limited acceptance of infeasibilities in all variables, and maintenance of a working feasibility tolerance that increases over a long sequence of iterations. The additional work per iteration is nominal, and stalling cannot occur with exact arithmetic. The method appears to be reliable, based on computational results for the first 53 linear programming problems in theNetlib set.The material contained in this report is based upon research supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grant 87-01962; the U.S. Department of Energy Grant DE-FG03-87ER25030; National Science Foundation Grants CCR-8413211 and ECS-8715153; and the Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-87-K-0142.