On the complexity of a piecewise linear algorithm for approximating roots of complex polynomials

LetS be a triangulation of andf(z) = z ^d +a _d–1 z ^d–1++a ₀, a complex polynomial. LetF be the piecewise linear approximation off determined byS. For certainS, we establish an upper bound on the complexity of an algorithm which finds zeros ofF. This bound is a polynomial in terms ofn, max{a _i } _i , and measures of the sizes of simplices inS.     

A PL homotopy for finding all the roots of a polynomial

This paper presents a constructive method which gives, for any polynomialF(Z) of the degreen, approximate values of all the roots ofF(Z).. The point of the method is on the use of a piecewise linear function (Z, t) which approximates a homotopyH(Z, t) betweenF(Z) and a polynomialG(Z) of the degreen withn known simple roots. It is shown that the set of solutions to (Z, t) = 0 includesn distinct paths,m of which converges to a root ofF(Z) if and only if the root has the multiplicitym. Starting from givenn roots ofG(Z), a complementary pivot algorithm generates thosen paths.This work was supported by grants from Management Science Development Foundation and Takeda Science Foundation.     

The pivot and probe algorithm for solving a linear program

In [7] we defined acandidate constraint as one which, for at least one pivot step, contains a potential pivot, discovered that most constraints are never candidate, and devised a modification of the simplex method in which only constraints which are currently candidates are updated. In this paper we present another way to take advantage of this fact. We begin by solving a relaxed linear program consisting of the constraints of the original problem which are initially candidates. Its solution gives an upper bound to the value of the original problem. We also introduce the idea of a probe, that is, a line segment joining two vectors for the primal problem, one of which is primal feasible, and use it to identify a most violated constraint; at the same time this gives a lower bound to the objective value of the original problem. This violated constraint is added to the relaxed problem which is solved again, which gives a new upper bound etc. We present computational experience indicating that time savings of 50–80% over the simplex method can be obtained by this method, which we call PAPA, the Pivot and Probe Algorithm. This report was prepared as part of the activities of the Management Science Research Group, Carnegie-Mellon University, under Contract No. N00014-75-C-0621 NR 047-048 with the U.S. Office of Naval Research. Reproduction in whole or part is permitted for any purpose of the U.S. Government.     

An algorithm for computing equilibria in a linear monetary economy

An algorithm is presented for computing equilibria in a linear monetary economy, that is, an exchange economy in which all individuals have linear utility functions and in which goods are bought and sold only in exchange for money. The algorithm computes the equilibrium prices by solving a finite sequence of linear programming problems.     

A parametric linear complementarity technique for the computation of equilibrium prices in a single commodity spatial model

This paper presents a parametric linear complementarity technique for the computation of equilibrium prices in a single commodity spatial model. We first reformulate the model as a linear complementarity problem and then apply the parametric principal pivoting algorithm for its solution. This reformulation leads to the study of an arc—arc weighted adjacency matrix associated with a simple digraph having weights on the nodes. Several basic properties of such a matrix are derived. Using these properties, we show how the parametric principal pivoting algorithm can be greatly simplified in this application. Finally, we report some computational experience with the proposed technique for solving some large problems.     

Modifications and implementation of the ellipsoid algorithm for linear programming

We give some modifications of the ellipsoid algorithm for linear programming and describe a numerically stable implementation. We are concerned with practical problems where user-supplied bounds can usually be provided. Our implementation allows constraint dropping and updates bounds on the optimal value, and should be able to terminate with an indication of infeasibility or with a provably good feasible solution in a moderate number of iterations.The work of this author was supported in part by the U.S. Army Research Office under Grant DAAG29-77-G-0114 and the National Science Foundation under Grant MCS-8006065.The work of this author was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant ECS-7921279.     

A path following algorithm for a class of convex programming problems

We present a primal-dual path following interior algorithm for a class of linearly constrained convex programming problems with non-negative decision variables. We introduce the definition of a Scaled Lipschitz Condition and show that if the objective function satisfies the Scaled Lipschitz Condition then, at each iteration, our algorithm reduces the duality gap by at least a factor of (1–/n), where is positive and depends on the curvature of the objective function, by means of solving a system of linear equations which requires no more than O(n³) arithmetic operations. The class of functions having the Scaled Lipschitz Condition includes linear, convex quadratic and entropy functions.     

An interior multiobjective primal-dual linear programming algorithm using approximated gradients and sequential generation of anchor points

An algorithm for addressing multiple objective linear programming (MOLP) problems is presented. The algorithm modifies the path-following primal-dual algorithm to MOLP problems by using the single objective algorithm to generate interior search directions and later combine them to derive a single direction along which to step to the next iterate. Combining the different interior search directions is done by interacting with a Decision Maker (DM) to obtain locally-relevant preference information for the value vectors along these directions. This preference information is then used to derive an approximation to the gradient of an implicity-known utility function, and using a projection of this gradient provides a direction gradient of an implicitly-known utility function, and using a projection of this gradient provides a direction vector along which we step to the next iterate. At each iteration the algorithm also generates boundary points that aid in deriving the combined search direction. We refer to these boundary points, generated sequentially during the process, as anchor points that serve as candidate solutions at which to terminate the iterative process.     

An efficient simplicial algorithm for computing a zero of a convex union of smooth functions

We present an efficient simplicial algorithm for computing a zero of a point-to-set mapping that is formed by piecing together smooth functions. Such mappings arise in nonlinear programming and economic equilibrium problems. Our algorithm, under suitable regularity conditions on the problem, generates a sequence converging at least Q-superlinearly to a zero of the mapping. Asymptotically, it operates in a space of reduced dimension, analogous to an active set strategy in the optimization setting, but it switches active sets automatically. Results of computational experiments are given. Research of this author was supported by a Fellowship from the Rockeffeller Foundation. Research of this author was partially supported by a fellowhip from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and by National Science Foundation Grant ECS-7921279.     

Comparative computer results of a new complementary pivot algorithm for solving equality and inequality constrained optimization problems

This paper reports the development of a new algorithm for solving the general constrained optimization problem (that of optimizing an objective function subject to both equality and inequality constraints). The approach is based on the complementary pivoting algorithms which have been developed to solve certain classes of fixed point problems. The specific approach is to use the equality constraints to solve for some variables in terms of the remaining ones thus enabling one to eliminate the equality constraints altogether. The result, under certain circumstances, is an optimization problem which may be transformed into a fixed point problem in such a way that a complementary pivoting code may be used to search for a solution.Seventeen test problems have been solved by this method and the results are compared against those obtained from GRG (Generalized Reduced Gradient method). The results of the tests indicate that the fixed point approach is robust (all 17 problems were solved by this method where as GRG solved 16). As to the computer times, the fixed point code proved to be as fast or faster than GRG on the lower dimensional problems; however, as the dimension increased, the trend reversed and on a 40 dimensional problem GRG was approximately 11 times faster. The conclusion from these tests is that when the dimension of the original problem can be reduced sufficiently by the equality constraints, the fixed point approach appears to be more effective than GRG.     

Combining a path method and parametric linear programming for the computation of competitive equilibria

A path-following philosophy (continuation method, global Newton method) is used to compute equilibria for piecewise linear economies while taking advantage of the linear structure of the model. The existence of a path leading through certain faces of a polyhedral set to an equilibrium point is demonstrated. Computational experience is reported which indicates that this method is promising for models dealing with many commodities and relatively few consumers.Most of this paper has been extracted from the author's doctoral dissertation for the Department of Operations Research at Stanford University; the author would like to express indebtedness to his advisor, R. Wilson. Major revisions were made while the author was at Bell Laboratories in Whippany, New Jersey.     

An algorithm for single-item economic lot-sizing problem with general inventory cost, non-decreasing capacity, and non-increasing setup and production cost

This paper considers an economic lot-sizing model with non-decreasing capacity constraint, non-increasing setup cost and production cost, and a general inventory cost. We prove that when periodic starting inventory is not less than a certain critical value, it is optimal to produce nothing; this critical value can be computed easily which results in a new effective algorithm.     

A greedy algorithm for solving a class of convex programming problems and its connection with polymatroid theory

We present a greedy algorithm for solving a special class of convex programming problems and establish a connection with polymatroid theory which yields a theoretical explanation and verification of the algorithm via some recent results of S. Fujishige.     

An O(n2) simplex algorithm for a class of linear programs with tree structure

In connection with the optimal design of centralized circuit-free networks linear 0–1 programming problems arise which are related to rooted trees. For each problem the variables correspond to the edges of a given rooted tree T. Each path from a leaf to the root of T, together with edge weights, defines a linear constraint, and a global linear objective is to be maximized. We consider relaxations of such problems where the variables are not restricted to 0 or 1 but are allowed to vary continouosly between these bounds. The values of the optimal solutions of such relaxations may be used in a branch and bound procedure for the original 0–1 problem. While in [10] a primal algorithm for these relaxations is discussed, in this paper, we deal with the dual linear program and present a version of the simplex algorithm for its solution which can be implemented to run in time O(n²). For balanced trees T this time can be reduced to O(n log n).     

A fast and accurate algorithm for solving linear systems associated with a class of negative matrix

A class of negative matrices including Vandermonde-like matrices tends to be extremely ill-conditioned, and linear systems associated with this class of matrices appear in the polynomial interpolation problems. In this article, we present a fast and accurate algorithm with $O(n^2)$ complexity to solve the linear systems whose coefficient matrices belong to the class of negative matrix. We show that the inverse of any such matrix is generated in a subtraction-free manner. Consequently, the solutions of linear systems associated with the class of negative matrix are accurately determined by parameterization matrices of coefficient matrices, and a pleasantly componentwise forward error is provided to illustrate that each component of the solution is computed to high accuracy. Numerical experiments are performed to confirm the claimed high accuracy.     

An optimization model for the aggregate production planning of a Brazilian sugar and ethanol milling company

This work presents an optimization model to support decisions in the aggregate production planning of sugar and ethanol milling companies. The mixed integer programming formulation proposed is based on industrial process selection and production lot-sizing models. The aim is to help the decision makers in selecting the industrial processes used to produce sugar, ethanol and molasses, as well as in determining the quantities of sugarcane crushed, the selection of sugarcane suppliers and sugarcane transport suppliers, and the final product inventory strategy. The planning horizon is the whole sugarcane harvesting season and decisions are taken on a discrete fraction of time. A case study was developed in a Brazilian mill and the results highlight the applicability of the proposed approach.