Linear and Convex Optimization. Michael H. Veatch
integer values. The function being optimized is the objective function. The domain over which the function is optimized is the set of points that satisfy the constraints, which can be equations or inequalities. We distinguish two kinds of constraints. Functional constraints can have any form, while variable bounds restrict the allowable values of one variable. Many problems have nonnegativity constraints as their variable bounds. In (1.1), the food constraint
Let
A solution to a mathematical program is any value of the variables.
A feasible solution is a solution that satisfies all constraints, i.e. .
The feasible region is the set of feasible solutions, i.e. .
The value of a solution is its objective function value.
An optimal solution is a feasible solution that has a value at least as large (if maximizing) as any other feasible solution.
To solve a mathematical program
Existence of Optimal Solutions When solving a mathematical program:
The problem has one or more optimal solutions (we include in this category having solutions whose value is arbitrarily close to optimal, but this distinction is rarely needed), or
The problem is an unbounded problem, meaning that, for a maximization, there is a feasible solution with value for every , or
The problem is infeasible: there are no feasible solutions, i.e. .
An unbounded problem, then, is one whose objective function is unbounded on
Figure 1.3 Problem has optimal solution for dashed objective but is unbounded for dotted objective.
Example 1.1 (Unbounded region) Consider the linear program
(1.3)
The feasible region is shown in Figure 1.3; the dashed line has an objective function value of 210. Sweeping this line down, the minimum value occurs at the corner point
1.4 Classes of Mathematical Programs
In Section 1.2 we introduced the concept of a linear program. This section introduces algebraic and matrix notation for linear programs. It then defines the three main classes of mathematical programs: linear programs, integer programs, and nonlinear programs. Each of these will be studied in later chapters, though for nonlinear programs we will focus on the more tractable subclass of convex programs. A mathematical program with variables
However, we will always describe the feasible region using constraint equations or inequalities. The notation for the constraints is introduced in the following text.
1.4.1 Linear Programs
We have already seen two examples of linear programs.
General Form of a Linear Program
There are