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Linear programming can solve only problems with weak inequalities, such as "maximize $c x$ such that $A x \leq b$". This makes sense, since problems with strict inequality often do not have a solution. For example "maximize $x$ such that $x<5$" does not have a solution.

But suppose we are interested in finding supremum instead of maximum. In this case, the above program does have a solution - the supremum is $5$.

Given a linear program with strict inequalities and a supremum or infimum objective, is it possible to solve it by reduction to a standard linear program?

Erel Segal-Halevi
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1 Answers1

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Suppose that the supremum of a continuous function $f(x)$ subject to $Ax < b$ is $c$, and assume furthermore that the constraints imply a bound on $\|x\|_\infty$. Thus there is a sequence of feasible points $x_n$ such that $f(x_n) \to c$. Since all points in the sequence have bounded norm, it follows that some subsequence of $x_n$ converges to a limit point $y$ satisfying $f(y) = c$ and $Ay \leq b$. This implies that in the bounded case, your problem is equivalent to classical linear programming.

In the unbounded case this argument doesn't work. For example, the infimum of $x-y$ subject to $x-y > 0$ is $0$, but the sequence $(n+1/n,n)$ has no limit points. Nevertheless, the answer should be the same.

Yuval Filmus
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  • So the problem "supremum $c x$ s.t. $A x < b$" has the same solutions as the problem "maximum $c x$ s.t. $A x \leq b$"? But what about the problem "supremum $c x$ s.t. $x_1=5, x_2=5, x_1-x_2<0$" - it is not equivalent to "maximum $c x$ s.t. $x_1=5, x_2=5, x_1-x_2\leq 0$": the latter has a solution and the former does not. – Erel Segal-Halevi Aug 25 '19 at 05:05
  • They should be equivalent when both are feasible and bounded. Your example is a corner case. – Yuval Filmus Aug 25 '19 at 06:04