Questions tagged [combinatorial-optimization]
Combinatorial optimization typically deals with optimizing over a finite set of objects that have some combinatorial structure (e.g. trees, matchings, matroids). Approximation algorithms, polyhedral methods, and integer programming are all on topic.
436
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Generating all possible subsets in order of sum
Given a set of positive integers, I am looking for method to algorithmically generate all possible subsets in order of their sum. Because the the count of possible subsets is exponential ($2^n$), it ...
4
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Optimal colorings
If $G=(V,E)$ is a graph, we call the smallest cardinal $\kappa$ such that there is a coloring map $c:V\to \kappa$ as the chromatic number of $G$ and denote it by $\chi(G)$.
For any coloring $c:V(G) \...
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2
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What is the proper name for this "tersest path" problem in Infinite Craft?
The web game Infinite Craft gives you a starting set of elements $V_0\subset V$ and a mapping $E$ of type $V\times V\rightarrow V$. In fact, $F$ is commutative: $E(v_a,v_b) = E(v_b,v_a)$. So another ...
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2
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Is there a closed-form solution for $\max_D \operatorname{Tr}(ADBD)$
Is there a closed-form solution for
$$\max_D \operatorname{Tr}(ADBD)$$
where $D$ is a $N\times N$ diagonal matrix with $m<N$ number of $1$'s and the rest are $0$'s, and $A$ and $B$ are real ...
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140
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Optimal covering trails for every $k$-dimensional cubic lattice $\mathbb{N}^k := \{(x_1, x_2, \dots, x_n) : x_i \in \mathbb{N} \wedge n \geq 3\}$
After a dozen years spent investigating this particular class of problems, I finally give up and I wish to ask you if any improvement is achievable from here on.
The general problem is as follows:
Let ...
2
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1
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Is matrix B obtained from matrix A?
Assuming a matrix $\mathbf{A} \in \mathbb{R}^{4096 \times 4096}$ sampled from a standard normal distribution $N(0, 1)$, and another matrix $\mathbf{B} \in \mathbb{R}^{4096 \times 4096}$ either sampled ...
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First known proof of the $2 \cdot n-2$ Theorem for the planar generalization of the Nine dots problem
Reading the Wikipedia page about the well-know Nine dots puzzle, I have just seen that the planar generalization of this problem would have been proven in 1956 (see Wikipedia: Nine dots puzzle), while ...
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0
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Two index formulation for capacitated vehicle routing problem [closed]
I'm trying to model the capacitated vehicle routing problem with two index in the case of two fleets with respective capacity $q_1$ and $q_2$. I tried several versions for many months and now I have a ...
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ILPs with square constraint matrix
Given the Integer Linear Programming ($\text{ILP}$) problem
\begin{array}{ll}
\text{minimize} & c^T x \\
\text{subject to}& \mathbf{A}^T x \ge b \\
\text{where}&c,x,b\in\mathbb{N}_0^n,\\ &...
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Complexity of finding single source paths with capacity constraints and length constraints
Let $G=(V,A)$ be a directed graph with distinguished vertex $s\in V$ and let $c:A\rightarrow{\mathbb N}$ denote arc capacities. For any $t\in V,t\not=s$ we are given two numbers: $C_{t},L_{t}$. Let $...
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Monotony of enforced subtour merging
Is it true that for a symmetric TSP instance in the sequence of edges generated by successively:
calculating the optimal 2-factor
adding cardinality constraints on the edgesets of the 2-factor's ...
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50
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Alternatives to McCormick Envelope
I have an optimization problem for which I have the optimal solution obtained by the ILP.
However, when I introduced the McCormick Envelope to replace the product of a bi-linear term in its LP ...
4
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Place colored balls in boxes that makes it hard to pick few boxes that contains large proportion of each color
There are $n$ boxes filled with red, blue and yellow balls. A box can be empty and it can also contain more than one color. For example, a box can have three red balls, ten blue balls and one yellow ...
2
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1
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Electricity division and bin packing
In the electricity division problem, there is a powerhouse that supplies $s$ kilowatt of electricity. There are $n$ households. The connection size of household $i$ is $d_i$.
The problem is that $s &...
2
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How to prove this weighted sum inequality with non-increasing sequences?
Problem
I have two non-increasing sequences, $X = (x_1, x_3, x_5, \ldots, x_{n-1})$ and $Y = (y_1, y_3, y_5, \ldots, y_{n -1})$, $n$ is an even integer. I want to prove this inequality:
$$
\sum_{i=1}^{...
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Maximizing a sum minus its maximal summand
This is a followup to a question that appeared on m.SE:
Maximize $\displaystyle f(\pi)=\left(\sum_{i=1}^{n}{i\pi_i}\right)-\max_{1\le i\le n}{(i\pi_i)}$ over permutations $\pi\in S_n$.
The problem ...
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Maximum trace of powers of symmetric $\{0,1\}$-valued matrix with fixed row and column sums
Maximize $\operatorname{tr}(A^k)$ over binary symmetric $n$ by $n$ matrices subject to $$a_{ii}=0, \sum_{j=1}^n a_{ij}=d, \sum_{i=1}^na_{ij}=d,$$
where $d,k$ are fixed positive integers.
I am having ...
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An $n$-dimensional generalized Hoffman’s circulation theorem?
For a directed graph $G$, a 1-dimensional circulation is a function $f:E(G)\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ such that for every $v\in V(G)$,
$$\sum_{uv\in E(G)}f(uv)=\sum_{vw\in E(G)}f(vw),$$
where $uv$ is an ...
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1
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Graph vertices selection for paths sum minimalization
Let $G = (V, E)$ be a simple, finite, weighted, undirected, connected graph. Let $P = \{p_{ij}, p_{kl}, p_{il}, ... \}$ be a set of paths, where $p_{ij}$ is a path from $i$-th to $j$-th vertex. Is ...
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Hardness of an optimization problem when some variables are fixed
Given a general optimization problem, I would like to know what we can say about the hardness of the problem when a subset of its variables are fixed.
With the two (related) examples, it is clear that ...
2
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Size of set of positive integers no sum of two distinct elements giving square
Question: find the size of a maximal subset $A$ of $[n]=\{1,\cdots,n\}$ satisfying that for any distinct elements $x,y\in A$, $x+y$ is not a perfect square.
Consider a graph with $n$ vertices: $x$ and ...
2
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1
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141
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Optimization over permutation
The Problem
This is the problem I am working on: Given a set $X = \{x_1, x_2, \cdots , x_n\}$ in a metric space, find an optimal ordering $\pi : X \rightarrow X$ that maximizes the following objective ...
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0
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Optimal top-k column subset
Let $V$ be a set of vectors over $\mathbb{R}^l$, $l\ge 1$, $\pi_i(V)$ be the permutation of vectors in $V$ such that they are ordered by their $i$th component (descending) in order for $\pi_i(V)(\...
2
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1
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Can we say this nonlinear integer programming problem is NP-hard?
I was wondering if the following nonlinear integer programming problem is NP-hard or not.
$$\max_{x_i \in \{0,1\}} \frac{\sum_{i=1}^{n}a_i x_i}{\sqrt{\sum_{i=1}^{n}b_i x_i}}$$
such that $\sum_{i=1}^{n}...
2
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1
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170
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Discrete maximization of geometric mean - reference request
This is a follow-up to my previous MO question:
A discrete optimization problem related to the AM-GM inequality
Let $n,k$ be integers such that $1\le k\le n$. Define the quantity
$$
P(n,k):=\max\ a_1\...
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1
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Optimality of a "shopping" heuristic
Suppose the following situation: we have to buy $n$ goods $g_1,\,\dots,\,g_n$ starting at day 1 and we can't buy more than one good per day.
On day $d$ the prices are $p_1^d,\,\dots,\,p_n^d;\quad p_i^...
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341
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Desargues ten point configuration $D_{10}$ in LaTeX
I want to draw the Desargues configuration $10_3$ in LaTeX using the standard picture environment, which allows only lines with the slopes $n:m$ where $\max\{|n|,|m|\}\le 6$. Is it possible? If not, ...
2
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2
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Real-world datasets for testing the maximum edge bi-clique problem
We have proposed a new approach to solve the maximum edge bi-clique problem, however, we couldn't succeed to find real-world datasets (graph or bipartite graph datasets) to test our approach. Does ...
2
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What is an efficient non-adaptive group testing scheme if the number of defectives, $d$, grows proportionally to the number of items, $n$?
Suppose that for some $p \in \left(0, 1\right)$ and some $n \in \mathbb{N}$, we have $n$ independent Bernoulli random variables, $X_{1}, X_{2}, \dots, X_{n}$, each with mean $p$. We shall call $X_{1}, ...
3
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1
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How to turn $\{-1, 0, 1\}$-valued optimization problem into integer program?
For an $n \times n$ matrix $M$, the $\infty\to 1$ and cut norms are given by
$$\|M\|_{\infty \to 1} := \max\limits_{x, y \in \{\pm 1\}^n} \sum\limits_{i, j} m_{i, j} x_i y_j, \qquad \|M\|_{\square} :=...
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LP formulation of $k$-opt moves
Question:
what is known about formulating $k$-opt moves that strive for improving the length of Hamilton cycles by means of exchanging $k$ of the tour edges with $k$ non-tour edges?
Specifically:
are ...
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0
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On determinant and permanent of certain homotopy defined simple matrices
Let $A_1,A_2,B_1,B_2$ be four $n\times n$ $0/1$ square matrices where $$\det(A_1)=\det(A_2)=per(A_1)=per(A_2)=1$$
$$\det(B_1)=\det(B_2)=per(B_1)=per(B_2)=0$$
hold ($per$ refers to permanent).
I. What ...
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0
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Properties of the "girth function" of a matroid
Given an independent set representation of a matroid $M=(E,\mathcal{F})$ its ``rank function'' $r$ defined on the powerset of $E$ is:
$$
\forall X \subseteq E, \quad r(X) = \max_{Y \subseteq X}\{|Y|, ...
0
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1
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151
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A variation of Set Cover
Suppose we have $n$ sets $\{S_i\}_{i=1}^n$, each containing exactly $k$ of the numbers from $1,...,n$. The union of all these sets will cover $1,...,n$. We know $i \in S_i$ for all $i$. We need to ...
1
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0
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Knotted Traveling Salesperson route
Let us consider fixed points in space, if we apply the well-known Traveling Salesperson Problem algorithm, we get the shortest route. It can give a nontrivial knot in the three-space. The question is ...
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0
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How to embed an arbitrary graph into (k,d)-kautz space (like multidimensional scaling of non-normed space)? See details in the following
How to embed an arbitrary graph into (k,d)-kautz space (like multidimensional scaling of non-normed space)? See details in the following.
Given a graph $G = \{V,E\}$,
we have a distance matrix (the ...
2
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0
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How to solve $\min_{\mathbf{x}\in \{\pm 1\}^N} \lVert \operatorname{sign}(\mathbf{Wx}) - \mathbf{y} \rVert_2^2$ where $\mathbf{y}\in \{\pm 1\}^N$?
Given the matrix $\mathbf{W} \in \mathbb{R}^{N \times N}$ and the vector $\mathbf{y} \in \{\pm 1\}^N$, how to solve
$$\min_{\mathbf{x}\in \{\pm 1\}^N} \left\| \operatorname{sign}(\mathbf{Wx}) - \...
1
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2
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How to solve the optimization problem $\max_{\mathbf{w}}\sum_i\text{sign}(\mathbf{w}^T \mathbf{x}_i)$?
I am looking for an algorithm to solve the following optimization problem
$$\max_{\mathbf{w}}\sum_i\text{sign}(\mathbf{w}^T \mathbf{x}_i)$$
where $\mathbf{w}$ and each $\mathbf{x}_i\in\mathbb{R}^d$.
...
11
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2
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600
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A discrete optimization problem related to the AM-GM inequality
Let $k\in\mathbb{Z}_{>0}$, and $s\in\mathbb{N}$, and for $m_1,\ldots,m_k$ some nonnegative integers, consider the problem of maximizing the product
$$
(1+m_1)(1+m_2)\cdots(1+m_k)
$$
under the ...
11
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0
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434
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What sequence maximizes the final distance?
This problem was created by professor Ronaldo Garcia from Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG) and he showed it to me at an event in my university. This problem has a lot of history and he told me he ...
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225
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What does the best die look like?
Intransitive dice have attracted a lot of attention - especially in the context of recreational math - since their introduction by Efron in the 1960s. More recently, there has been work studying ...
0
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0
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On the absolute difference of the Laplacian eigenvalues of an unbalanced signed graph and its underlying graph
Let $\Sigma=(G,\sigma)$ be an unbalanced signed graph with the underlying connected graph $G=(V,E)$ and $\sigma:E\rightarrow \{-1,1\}$, the signing function. Let the Laplacian eigenvalues of $\Sigma$ ...
0
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0
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54
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Maximum number of h-dimensional hyper-edges without forming any (h+1) complete subgraph
This is about graph theory.
Define an h-dimensional hyperedge as a set that contains h vertices.
A graph of (h+1) vertices is h-complete if any h combination (or any subset with size h) is an h-...
1
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0
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56
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A multi-layer version of Menger's theorem
Menger's theorem says that the maximum number of pairwise disjoint paths between two vertex sets $L,R$ of a graph G equals the minimum size of an $L$-$R$ separator. Below is a generalisation with more ...
2
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1
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171
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Can information theory characterise a (topological) space?
Consider an objective function f: $\mathbb{R}^n\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$, with a vector of variables $\theta$, i.e. $f(\theta)$, $\theta \in \mathbb{R}^n$. Depending on $f$, there can be interesting ...
2
votes
1
answer
96
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How to prove the local search algorithm can find the maximum weight independent set in a matroid with cardinality constraint?
I am trying to prove a simple local search algorithm could solve exactly this problem:
$\underset{S \in I(M), |S|=k}{max} c(S)$
where $M$ is a matroid, and $ I(M)$ is the set of all independent set, $...
1
vote
1
answer
92
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Minimum set of numbers which covers all the values of all digits
Introduction
Let's consider binary numbers for simplification and let's consider 4 bits numbers. Sets which answer my problem are:
...
0
votes
1
answer
115
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Traveling salesperson problem algorithm [closed]
I was wondering something, let's say in a symmetric distance matrix of a sample of TSP, there was a sure algorithm that could remove between 30% to 80% of the values (distances) that wouldn't ...
3
votes
1
answer
302
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How to find the maximum of a sum of squares of sums?
Is there any better than a brute force method for finding the maximum
$$\max\limits_{ (d_{1},\dots,d_{n}) \in \mathbb Z_{m}^{n}} \sum_{j=0}^{m-1} \left(\sum_{i=1}^{n}v_{i,(j+d_{i})\bmod m}\right)^{2}$$...
3
votes
0
answers
102
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The matrix representation of an interval graph
It is well-known that many classes of graphs have matrix representations that can be written concisely. For example,
The set of all directed acyclic graphs consists of binary matrices $x_{ij} \in \{...