Finding Short Paths on Simple Polytopes
We prove that computing a shortest monotone path to the optimum of a linear program over a simple polytope is NP-hard, thus resolving a 2022 open question of De Loera, Kafer, and Sanit\`{a}. As a consequence, finding a shortest sequence of pivots to an optimal basis with the simplex method is NP-hard. In fact, we … Read more