An Improved Branch-and-Bound Method for Maximum Monomial Agreement

The NP-hard Maximum Monomial Agreement (MMA) problem consists of finding a single logical conjunction that best fits a weighted dataset of “positive” and “negative” binary vectors. Computing classifiers using boosting methods involves a maximum agreement subproblem at each iteration, although such subproblems are typically solved by heuristic methods. Here, we describe an exact branch and … Read more

Most tensor problems are NP-hard

We show that multilinear (tensor) analogues of many efficiently computable problems in numerical linear algebra are NP-hard. Our list here includes: determining the feasibility of a system of bilinear equations, deciding whether a tensor possesses a given eigenvalue, singular value, or spectral norm; approximating an eigenvalue, eigenvector, singular vector, or spectral norm; determining a best … Read more

A simple branching scheme for Vertex Coloring Problems

We present a branching scheme for some Vertex Coloring Problems based on a new graph operator called extension. The extension operator is used to generalize the branching scheme proposed by Zykov for the basic problem to a broad class of coloring problems, such as the graph multicoloring, where each vertex requires a multiplicity of colors, … Read more

Second-Order Cone Relaxations for Binary Quadratic Polynomial Programs

Several types of relaxations for binary quadratic polynomial programs can be obtained using linear, second-order cone, or semidefinite techniques. In this paper, we propose a general framework to construct conic relaxations for binary quadratic polynomial programs based on polynomial programming. Using our framework, we re-derive previous relaxation schemes and provide new ones. In particular, we … Read more

The positive semidefinite Grothendieck problem with rank constraint

Given a positive integer n and a positive semidefinite matrix A = (A_{ij}) of size m x m, the positive semidefinite Grothendieck problem with rank-n-constraint is (SDP_n) maximize \sum_{i=1}^m \sum_{j=1}^m A_{ij} x_i \cdot x_j, where x_1, …, x_m \in S^{n-1}. In this paper we design a polynomial time approximation algorithm for SDP_n achieving an approximation … Read more

Easy distributions for combinatorial optimization problems with probabilistic constraints

We show how we can linearize probabilistic linear constraints with binary variables when all coefficients are distributed according to either $\mathcal{N}(\mu_i,\lambda \mu_i)$, for some $\lambda >0$ and $\mu_i>0$, or $\Gamma(k_i,\theta)$ for some $\theta >0$ and $k_i>0$. The constraint can also be linearized when the coefficients are independent and identically distributed if they are, besides, either … Read more

Integer Network Synthesis Problem for Hop Constrained Flows

Hop constraint is associated with modern communication network flows. We consider the problem of designing an optimal undirected network with integer-valued edge-capacities that meets a given set of single-commodity, hop-constrained network flow value requirements. We present a strongly polynomial, combinatorial algorithm for the problem with value of hop-parameter equal to three when values of flow … Read more

Exact Solution of Emerging Quadratic Assignment Problems

We report on a growing class of assignment problems that are increasingly of interest and very challenging in terms of the difficulty they pose to attempts at exact solution. These problems address economic issues in the location and design of factories, hospitals, depots, transportation hubs and military bases. Others involve improvements in communication network design. … Read more