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3 votes
1 answer
154 views

How to maximize the variance of a subset of integers?

$\DeclareMathOperator{\Var}{Var}$Given the set of numbers $\Omega := \{1, \ldots, n\}, n \in \mathbb{Z}^+$, how can I choose a subset, $A$ of $\Omega$ , such that $\min(\Var(A), \Var(\Omega \setminus ...
1 vote
0 answers
29 views

Integral hull of a polyhedron Q is polyhedron

Let $Q \subseteq R^n$ be a rational polyhedron and let $Q_I=Convexhull(Q \cap Z^n)$. By finite basis theorem, we have $Q=P+C$ for some rational polytope $P$ and finitely generated cone $C$ where $C=R_+...
1 vote
1 answer
107 views

Iterated optimal transport

Suppose we are interested in two consecutive transport plans (in the Kantorovich formulation). That is, we are given finite sets $X$, $Y$ and $Z$, endowed with probability measures $\mu_X$, $\mu_Y$ ...
1 vote
0 answers
99 views

Minimum of the maximum element frequency given the family size and the universe size

[Crossposted at math.stackexchange]. Consider families of sets $\mathcal{F}$ with size $n = |\mathcal{F}|$ and universe $U(\mathcal{F})$ with size $q = |U(\mathcal{F})|$. I have written and solved ...
5 votes
1 answer
176 views

Efficient counting of integer solutions to linear system

In my research, I have a particular 18x18 matrix $\mathbf{A}$ which defines the linear system $\mathbf{A}\cdot \mathbf{x} \leq \mathbf{-1}$ over the nonnegative integers. And I'm interested in ...
25 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is the Ford-Fulkerson algorithm a tropical rational function?

The Ford-Fulkerson algorithm Let me recall the standard scenario of flow optimization (for integer flows at least): Let $\mathbb{N} = \left\{0,1,2,\ldots\right\}$. Consider a digraph $D$ with vertex ...
4 votes
0 answers
46 views

Implementation of Friedman's algorithm of reconstructing simple polytopes

In Finding a Simple Polytope from Its Graph in Polynomial Time, Friedman gave a polynomial time algorithm on reconstructing a simple polytope from its graph. Has this algorithm been actually ...
0 votes
0 answers
145 views

Bound on solutions of $Ax \ge b$

Let $A \in \mathbb{Z}^{m \times n}, b \in \mathbb{Z}^{m \times 1}$. One can show that if there is a solution of $Ax \ge b, x \in \mathbb{R}^n$ then there is one such that $\|x\|_{\infty} \le c (\|A\|_{...
1 vote
0 answers
336 views

Closed-form solution of a particular linear program

(Note: I asked a similar question at math.stackexchange but the present one is more precise.) I have a linear program of the form: $$\text{minimize} \space\space x_1 \space\space \text{subject to:}$$ $...
1 vote
1 answer
169 views

Best projection on non-convex discrete set with two constraints

I want to compute the projection of a vector $\left( x\right) _{1\leq i,j\leq n}\in \lbrack 0,1]^{n\times n}$ on the following discrete set $$ S=\left\{ x\in \{0,1\}^{n\times n}:x_{i,j}+x_{j,i}\leq 1;\...
2 votes
1 answer
61 views

Counting the number of pair of d-uplets with upper bounded distance

Consider two d-uplets $u = (u_1,...,u_d)$ and $v = (v_1, ..., v_d)$ both living in $\mathbb{N}^d$ with $d$ a positive integer. They both verify $$(*) \sum_{i=1}^d u_i = \sum_{i=1}^d v_i = k$$ with $k$ ...
2 votes
2 answers
418 views

Lovasz theta function - uses

Lovasz theta function bounds the Shannon capacity of graphs. What are some other uses of the function - especially in asymptotic coding theory and optimization problems?
16 votes
3 answers
1k views

Can a convex polytope with $f$ facets have more than $f$ facets when projected into $\mathbb{R}^2$?

Let $P$ be a convex polytope in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with $n$ vertices and $f$ facets. Let $\text{Proj}(P)$ denote the projection of $P$ into $\mathbb{R}^2$. Can $\text{Proj}(P)$ have more than $f$ facets? ...
1 vote
0 answers
283 views

total unimodularity of a matrix

Let G be the node-arc incidence matrix of a given directed network (rows of $G$ correspond to nodes and its columns correspond to arcs). Let $B_1,\dots, B_K$ denote a partition of the nodes of the ...
5 votes
1 answer
424 views

What is the LP gap of vertex cover in planar graphs?

What is the LP gap of vertex cover in planar graphs? The LP I refer to is min $\sum_{e \in E } c_e x_e \ \ $ subject to $ \ \ x_v + x_u \geq 1 \ \ \ \forall uv \in E $ $ c_e \geq 0 $ are ...
19 votes
4 answers
1k views

Applications of linear programming duality in combinatorics

So, I know that one can apply the strong LP duality theorem to specific instances of maximum flow problems to recover some nontrivial theorems in combinatorics, such as Hall's theorem, Koenig's ...
3 votes
2 answers
437 views

convex polytope integer points

is there a simple proof for the following lemma: An unbounded convex polytope (defined by linear constraints) has either zero integer points or infinite many integer points.
5 votes
1 answer
394 views

Explicit Formula of Delsarte's Linear Programming Upper Bound for $A_q(n,3)$

The problem of giving an explicit formula for $A_q(n,d)$ is sometimes referred to as "the main problem in coding theory." The value of $A_q(n,d)$ is given by the maximum number of codewords in a q-ary ...
9 votes
1 answer
295 views

Definition of packing property

Definition 1: A clutter $C$ is said to have the packing property if $C$ and all of its minors satisfy the König property. where, vertex cover of $C$ is a set of vertices that have non-empty ...
10 votes
0 answers
722 views

Fractional Matching version of Hall's Marriage theorem

Let $G=(S,T,E)$ be a bipartite graph, $|S|=|T|$. Then the following are equivalent: 1) there exist a perfect matching in $G$; 2) there exist non-negative weights on edges such that the sum of ...
1 vote
1 answer
73 views

minimize number of unique elements in a vector

I was wondering if there is a simple or known way to minimize the number of unique elements in a decision variable (vector). Note that I'm not asking for minimization of nonzero elements (rank ...
27 votes
5 answers
2k views

Is the matrix $\left({2m\choose 2j-i}\right)_{i,j=1}^{2m-1}$ nonsingular?

Suppose we have a $(2m-1) \times (2m-1)$ matrix defined as follows: $$\left({2m\choose 2j-i}\right)_{i,j=1}^{2m-1}.$$ For example, if $m=3$, the matrix is $$\begin{pmatrix}6 & 20 & 6& 0 ...
1 vote
1 answer
206 views

Show $0-1$ Knapsack is polynomially reducible to this problem

I have already posted this question here but have not received an answer so I am cross-posting with hope to reach a larger amount of mathematicians: Let $T=\{1,\cdots,n\}$ and consider the ...
0 votes
1 answer
81 views

Can convex combinations of indicator functions for pairwise non-disjoint sets unordered by inclusion dominate one another?

Let $N$ be a finite subset of the naturals. Let $P$ be a set of subsets of $N$ such that: 1) $P\neq \varnothing$, 2) $\forall x\in P, |x| >1$, 3) $\forall x,y\in P,$ if $x\neq y$, then $x\not\...
8 votes
2 answers
246 views

Are sums of 0-1 Pareto efficient vectors Pareto efficient?

Does there exist $m,n\ge1$, an $m \times n$ matrix $A$, and a vector $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$ such that: The entries of $A$ are $\in \{0, 1\}$. For all pairs of columns $u, v$ of $A$ the entries of $u - ...
1 vote
0 answers
1k views

Number of different combinations in a 0-1 knapsack problem with integer weights [closed]

My question is actually very similar to this other one: Given a vector of positive integers, count the number of combinations which have a sum that produces a different value. But, since this previous ...
1 vote
0 answers
55 views

Separation on discrete set

Consider the set $L = \prod_{i=1}^n\{1,0\}$, i.e. L consists of the element of n-tuples whose entries are 0 or 1. Also we can regard $L$ as a subset of $R^n$. Define linear functions $f(x)= a_1x_1+ \...
0 votes
1 answer
204 views

Is the linear production game a convex game?

In cooperative game theory, the linear production game (LPG) is defined by letting the characteristic function have the form of a linear programming problem. Does anyone know if the LPG is a convex ...
2 votes
0 answers
177 views

Formulating shortest path as submodular minimization

I'm curious about the general question of whether any combinatorial optimization problem with polynomial time solution can necessarily be reformulated as minimizing a submodular function. The answer ...
2 votes
0 answers
71 views

Select n vectors from k vectors (in 3D) such that each component of the resultant vector >= each component of a given vector M

this was left unanswered for 1 week on MStackExchange, so I thought MOverflow would be more appropriate. Thanks :) Let $R = (R_x, R_y, R_z)$ be the resultant vector of the n vectors and $M = (M_x, ...
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

ILP for minimum edge coloring problem

We know that for a graph $G=(V,E)$, minimum edge coloring is a coloring of $E$, i.e., a partition of $E$ into disjoint sets $E_1, E_2, \dots, E_k$ such that, for $1 \leq i \leq k$, no two edges in $...
1 vote
1 answer
219 views

approximate diameter of polytopes in high dimensions

I just came across the following problem: Let us consider the unit corner of the n-cube $$ \Delta^n = \left\{(t_1,\cdots,t_n)\in\mathbb{R}^n\mid\sum_{i = 1}^{n}{t_i} \leq 1 \mbox{ and } t_i \ge 0 \...
1 vote
0 answers
171 views

Finding all feasible solutions

Let $u$ be a $n_{max} \times m$ matrix. Let $z$ be a $n_{max} \times s_{max} \times n_{max}$ cube. Let $w$ be a $n_{max} \times 1$ vector. All the three matrices can have values from the set $\{ 0, 1\}...
3 votes
1 answer
340 views

Name search for special Linear Integer Program

I am looking for a name for the following question in literature! (and if you know it, then it would be great) I couldn't find it and due to wide audience here, presumably you know more. Thank you $...
2 votes
1 answer
426 views

Network flows with shared capacities

Suppose we have a flow network, with capacity constraints on weighted sums of arc flows, such as: $$2 f(1, 2) + 3 f(4, 5) + f(3, 7) \leq 10,$$ where $f(1, 2)$ denotes the flow through arc $(1, 2)$....
6 votes
3 answers
11k views

Maximum flow with negative capacities?

I'm trying to compute an (s-t) maximum flow through a network which includes a number of arc pairs ((u,v), (v,u)) that have equal, negative capacities (weights). I'm not aware of any efficient ...
7 votes
1 answer
224 views

A polytope with a bound on the sum of any $k$ variables

Let $2\le k\le n-1$ and define the polytope $$P_k(n) = \lbrace (x_1,\ldots,x_n) \in \mathbb{R}^n : -1\le x_{i_1}+\cdots +x_{i_k} \le 1 \text{ for all } 1\le i_1\lt\cdots\lt i_k\le n\rbrace.$$ There ...
1 vote
0 answers
140 views

Reduce a Combinatorial problem

It is given n sets with k vectors. (k is element-wise positive or zero) Choose one vector of each set so that the biggest element of the sum of the chosen vectors is minimal. What i also know but is ...
4 votes
2 answers
212 views

combinatorial and linear duality

Let $S$ be a finite set, and let $W$ be a nonempty set of subsets of $S$; we will identify every subset of $S$ with its characteristic function, a 0-1 vector in $\mathbb R^S$. The combinatorial dual $\...
5 votes
0 answers
194 views

A linear optimization problem on a graph

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a finite graph and let $f$ be any positive function defined on the vertices. Put weights on the vertices $v_{i}$, way $w_{i}$ so that $\sum_{i=1}^{n}w_{i}\leq 1$. Assume that every ...
7 votes
1 answer
360 views

Does the Hirsch conjecture hold for $n < 2d$?

The Hirsch conjecture asserts that the graph (i.e. $1$-skeleton) of a $d$-dimensional convex polytope with $n$ facets has diameter at most $n - d$. After being open for decades, Francisco Santos has ...
2 votes
1 answer
137 views

Design constraint systems over the reals

This question is inspired by the discussion at this problem. Suppose I have a design consisting of a finite point set $U$ of size $|U|=m_{\emptyset}$ and a family of $n$ subsets (sometimes called ...
2 votes
0 answers
917 views

Guessing game with guess cost

This is a question about Problem 328 on the website Project Euler. A description of the problem is provided in the previous link. I was wondering if there has been any research done on this question. ...
2 votes
0 answers
215 views

Number of breakpoints in parametric maximum flow problems

The parametric maximum flow problem can be formulated as $$f(\lambda) = \min_{x\in\{0,1\}^n} \left( \sum_{i}(a_i + b_i\lambda)x_i + \sum_{i,j}c_{ij}x_ix_j \right), $$ where all $c_{ij}<0$ (so that ...
1 vote
1 answer
531 views

Split sum into equal terms

Given a sum of $l$ integers $r_1+...+r_k+...+r_l$ and an integer $t$. Find indices $1 < p_1 <...< p_h <...< p_{t-1} < l$ such that in sum $(r_1+...+r_{p_1})+...+(r_{p_{h-1}+1}+......
14 votes
0 answers
4k views

Minimum tiling of a rectangle by squares

Given the $n\times m$ rectangle, I want to compute the minimum number of integer-sided squares needed to tile it (possibly of different sizes). Is there an efficient way to calculate this?
10 votes
1 answer
2k views

Sum of difference moduli vs. sum of modulus differences

This is a failed attempt of mine at creating a contest problem; the failure is in the fact that I wasn't able to solve it myself. Let $x_1$, $x_2$, ..., $x_n$ be $n$ reals. For any integer $k$, ...