Exploiting nested inequalities and surrogate constraints



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EXPLOITING NESTED INEQUALITIES AND SURROGATE CONSTRAINTS

Saïd HanafiFred Glover*

Laboratoire d’Automatique, de Mécanique et d’Informatique Industrielles et Humaines,

UMR CNRS 8530, Groupe Recherche Opérationnelle et Informatique,

Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis,

Le Mont Houy, 59313 Valenciennes Cedex France



said.hanafi@univ-valenciennes.fr
* Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado

Boulder, CO 80309-0419



fred.glover@colorado.edu

Mars 1, 2006

Abstract
The exploitation of nested inequalities and surrogate constraints as originally proposed in Glover (1965, 1971) has been specialized to multidimensional knapsack problems in Osorio et al. (2002). We show how this specialized exploitation can be strengthened to give better results. This outcome results by a series of observations based on surrogate constraint duality and properties of nested inequalities. The consequences of these observations are illustrated by numerical examples to provide insights into uses of surrogate constraints and nested inequalities that can be useful in a variety of problem settings.

Keywords: Integer Programming, Nested Cuts, Multidimensional Knapsack Problem, Surrogate Constraints.



  1. Introduction

A general integer programming (IP) problem consists of optimizing (Minimizing or Maximizing) a linear function subject to linear inequality and / or equality constraints, where all of the variables are required to be integral. An IP problem (which we assume is to be maximized) can be expressed as follows:

Maximize x0 = cx

Subject to AixA0i for iM = {1, 2, …, m}

(IP) 0  xj  Uj for jN = {1, 2, …, n}

xj integer for jN .

The variable x0 identifies the objective function value of a feasible solution x defined by n decision variables xj for jN. The vector cRn denotes the cost vector and the vector A0 denotes the right-hand side of m linear constraints AixA0i for iM. No special structure is assumed for the input matrices c(1 x n), A(m x n), A0(m x 1), b(n x 1). The parameter Uj refer to an upper bound on the integer variable xj .

Problem (IP) reduces to the binary integer program (01-IP) when all integer variables must equal 0 or 1 (i.e. Uj = 1, for all jN). The zero-one multi-dimensional knapsack (MDK) is also a subproblem of many general integer programs where the components of the data matrices c, A and A0 are given non-negative integers. In the following, without loss of generality, we consider the case of the zero-one multi-dimensional knapsack. Letting e denote a vector with all components equal to 1, the zero-one multi-dimensional knapsack (MDK) problem can be expressed as follows

(MDK) Maximize x0 = cx (1-a)



AxA0 (1-b)

0  xe (1-c)



x  {0, 1}n. (1-d)

The foregoing MDK formulation, where A and A0 are non-negative, can model many combinatorial optimization problems, including capital budgeting, cargo loading, cutting-stock problems, and a variety of others (see Fréville (2004), Fréville and Hanafi (2005)). MDK also arises as a subproblem in solving many other combinatorial optimization problems. Complexity results have not yet definitively identified the level of difficulty of these problems, but empirical findings suggest that the computational resources required to solve certain MDK problem instances can grow exponentially with the size of problem.

The exploitation of nested inequalities and surrogate constraints as originally proposed in Glover (1965, 1971) has been specialized to multidimensional knapsack problems in Osorio et al. (2002). In this paper, we show how this specialized exploitation can be strengthened to give better results. This outcome results by a series of observations based on surrogate constraint duality and properties of nested inequalities. The consequences of these observations are illustrated by numerical examples to provide insights into uses of surrogate constraints and nested inequalities that can be useful in a variety of problem settings. Recently Osorio and Gómez (2004) proposed cutting analysis for MDK.


  1. Mixed Surrogate constraint

Bounding procedures that compute lower and upper bounds on the optimum x0 value are useful for solving MDK. Upper bounds are provided by relaxation or duality techniques. Lower bounds are generally provided by heuristic and/or metaheuristic procedures using restriction techniques.

Most commercial Branch-and-Bound (B&B) procedures use the LP-relaxation to compute the bound function. Formally, the LP-relaxation of MDK, denoted by LP-MDK, where all variables are allowed to be continuous, can be defined as follows :

LP-MDK maximize{ x0 = c : AxA0 and 0  xe}

Bounds derived from other relaxations can sometimes be generated more readily than those obtained from LP, and in certain cases can be stronger than the LP bounds. In particular, Lagrangean relaxation, surrogate relaxation and composite relaxation, are often used to obtain such upper bounds. Lagrangean strategies have been shown to provide an effective tool for solving integer programming problems (see, for example, Geoffrion (1974) and Fischer (1981). The Lagrangean relaxation absorbs a set of constraints into the objective function.

Surrogate constraint methods, which we focus on here, have been embedded in a variety of mathematical programming applications over the past thirty years. The surrogate relaxation, introduced by Glover (1965), replaces sum of the original constraints by a single new one, called a surrogate constraint. A surrogate relaxation S() of MDK, where   Rm is a vector of “mutipliers” satisfying   0, is defined as :

S() max{ x0 = cx : x  {0, 1}n and



dx d0} (2)

where d = A and d0 = A0.

We assume the surrogate constraint (2) does not include weighted combinations of the upper or lower bounds on the problem variables. The surrogate dual (S), defined as follows, yields the strongest surrogate constraint


  1. min{S() :   0}

This dual in general yields stronger bounds for combinatorial optimization problems than the Lagrangian dual. The most widely used search methods for solving a surrogate dual problem are based on the properties of the corresponding relaxation function S(). Greenberg and Pierskalla (1970) showed that the surrogate function S() is a quasi-convex function of the multiplier , and it is a discontinuous piecewise linear function for the MDK problem. This property assures that any local optimum for the surrogate function is also a global optimum.

In the following, the term simple bounding constraint refers to a constraint that imposes a lower or upper bound on a variable (such as xj ≥ 0 or xj ≤ 1). The term component constraint refers to a constraint that receives a nonzero weight in forming a surrogate constraint. An inequality or, more generally, a system of inequalities will be said to be strengthened (or made stronger) if the new system yields a set of feasible solutions contained within the set of feasible solutions to the original system.

The term xo constraint (or objective function constraint) refers to a constraint of the form xoxo* + ε, where xo* = cx* is the xo value for the best feasible solution x* currently known, and ε is a chosen tolerance for approximating the inequality xo > xo* (which may permissibly equal the greatest common divisor of the cj coefficients when c is an integer vector) .

The term mixed surrogate constraint refers to a surrogate constraint created by combining a given surrogate constraint (2) (called the component surrogate constraint) with an objective function constraint . To create the mixed surrogate constraint, we write the associated objective function constraint as a “≤” constraint to give it the same orientation as the surrogate constraint (2).

cx ≤ –cx* – ε (3)

Consequently, by weighting (2) by  and (3) by , the mixed surrogate constraint is :

x ≤ o (4)

with  = d – c and o = d0 –(cx* + ε).

We begin with an exceedingly straightforward observation that nevertheless has important consequences.

Observation 1. Surrogate constraints can be made stronger by excluding simple bounding constraints as component constraints.

This observation is an immediate consequence of the fact that the bounds on the variables are directly exploited by the methods that extract information from surrogate constraints, and hence folding such bounds into the constraints themselves creates an unnecessary degree of relaxation. Similarly, any constraints that are exploited in conjunction with surrogate constraints should not be included as component constraints. In the present context, therefore, Observation 1 can be extended to exclude nested inequalities as component constraints – except where a set of such inequalities is different from the one being exploited in connection with the surrogate constraint in a particular instance.

Moreover, note also that the surrogate relaxation that includes bounding constraints as component constraints is a surrogate relaxation of the one that excludes these bounding constraints. In general, suppose we define

(P) max{ x0 = cx : AxA0, BxB0, xX}

S(u) max{ x0 = cx : uAxuA0, BxB0, xX}

S(v) max{ x0 = cx : AxA0, vBxvB0, xX}

S(u,v) max{ x0 = cx : uAx + vBxuA0 + vB0, xX}

Then the problems S(u), S(v) and S(u,v) are surrogate relaxations of P and S(u, v) is a surrogate relaxation of the problems S(u) and S(v). Defining S(u*) = min{S(u) : u  0}, S(v*) = min{S(v) : v  0} and S = min{ S(u,v) : u,v  0}, then we have S(u*)  S(u*,v)  for all v  0, S(v*)  S(u,v*)  for all u  0, and max(S(u*), S(v*))  S.


Illustration of Observation 1.

The LP relaxation of the surrogate problem S() is



LP-S () max {x0 = cx : dxd0 and 0 x e

We order the variables in descending bang-per-buck order, i.e., in descending order of the ratios of the objective function coefficients to the surrogate constraint coefficients. Then the solution to the LP relaxation of the surrogate problem occurs by sequentially setting the variables equal to 1, until reaching the point where the residual portion of the surrogate constraint RHS compels a fractional or 0 value to be assigned to the next variable (or where no more variables remain). More formally, the variables are ordered according the ratio rj = . An optimal solution of the LP relaxation of the surrogate problem LP-S () is obtained explicitly by



for j = 1, …, j*-1, , for j = j*+1, …, n, where j* = min{j:0}.

The resulting objective function value is xo = c, giving an upper bound on the optimum xo value for 0-1 solutions. In addition, suppose we have a feasible solution x* to the original problem. The objective function value, cx*, is a lower bound on the optimum xo value. This solution is of course feasible for the surrogate constraint (2). To create the mixed surrogate constraint which combines (2) and (3), we choose the weight for (2) that is the same weight it receives in the LP dual solution to the surrogate relaxation (knapsack) problem S(). This weight is identified by pivoting on the variable in the surrogate constraint that received a fractional value in the LP solution. (In the absence of any variables with fractional values, the pivot can be on the last variable that receives a unit value or the first variable that receives a 0 value.) Let, xj* be the variable giving the pivot element, and thus the dual weight is rj*. This weight is the bank-for-buck ratio for xj*, and it is also the multiple of (2) that would be subtracted from the objective function by a pivot operation to create the updated objective function. The coefficients of the resulting updated objective function are the negative of the reduced costs. Consequently, we weight (2) by rj* and add the result to (3) to create the mixed surrogate constraint x ≤ o with

 = rj*dc and o = rj*d0cx*. (4’)

In fact, in the preceding calculation, if the surrogate constraint (2) had been obtained by weighting the original problem constraints by their associated dual values in the LP relaxation of this problem, then the surrogate constraint would already be a multiple of rj* times the version of the constraint depicted as (4). Then it would not be necessary to identify the dual weight for (2) by a pivot calculation, since the weight would automatically be 1 (i.e., the “dual LP form” of (2) would simply be added to (3) to give (4)).

By our preceding comments, the coefficients of the mixed surrogate constraint (4) are the same as the reduced costs in the LP solution. In accordance with the usual application of the bounded variable simplex method, a negative reduced cost identifies a variable that must be set equal to its upper bound to identify the LP solution. If, in contrast to the prescription of Observation 1, we had included weights for the simple bounding inequalities, the mixed surrogate constraint (4) would have 0 coefficients for each of the variables that appears with a negative reduced cost. Such an outcome creates a loss of useful information for bounding the variables, and also for generating nested inequality constraints from the surrogate constraint.

To put the mixed constraint (4) into the standard non-negative coefficient format, we set yj = 1 – xj to complement the appropriate variables. More precisely, let -, + denote the associated vectors defined by -+j = max{j, 0}, -j = min{j, 0}. The mixed constraint (4) can be disaggregated as follows

x = -x + +x = -(e – y) + +x ≤ o

We can also complement the variables even though it has a 0 coefficient, for example the variables that are set equal to 1 in the knapsack LP solution, giving

--y + +x ≤ o - -e (5)

This complementation does not uncover additional implications at this point, but it proves relevant to other more advanced analysis, as will subsequently be shown.

The mixed surrogate constraint (5) is the customary “variable fixing inequality” for zero-one problems. The variable xj is fixed to 0 if the corresponding coefficient +j is greater than the value o - -e and the variable xj is fixed to 1 if the absolute value of the coefficient -j is greater than the value o - -e. Evidently, the ability to use this inequality to fix xj variables to 1 (by fixing the associated yj variables to 0) would not be possible if the simple bounding constraints had been included as component constraints. Still more critically, Observation 1 affects the generation of nested inequalities – both by reference to the mixed surrogate constraint (5) and by reference to its component surrogate constraint (2). This has a bearing on our next observation.

Example A:

Consider the following surrogate relaxation of a zero-one MDK :



Max 40x1 + 49x2 + 24x3 + 36x4 + 40x5 + 30x6 + 32x7 + 16x8 + 27x9 + 9x10 (A1)

5x1 + 7x2 + 4x3 + 6x4 + 8x5 + 6x6 + 8x7 + 4x8 + 9x9 + 3x10 ≤ 33 (A2)



xj  {0, 1} for j = 1, …, 10.

The LP surrogate solution in this case is



x1 = x2 = x3 = x4 = x5 = 1, x6 = ½, x7 = x8 = x9 = x10 = 0.

The resulting objective function value is xo = 204, giving an upper bound on the optimum xo value for 0-1 solutions. In addition, suppose we have a feasible solution to the original problem given by



x1 = x2 = x3 = x4 = x5 = x10 = 1, all other variables 0.

The objective function value, xo = 198, is a lower bound on the optimum xo value, and the associated objective function constraint, to compel xo to be better than 198, is given by

40x1 + 49x2 + 24x3 + 36x4 + 40x5 + 30x6 + 32x7 + 16x8 + 27x9 + 9x10 ≥ 199 (A3)

We write the foregoing inequality as a “≤ constraint” to give it the same orientation as the surrogate constraint (A2).

–40x1 – 49x2 – 24x3 – 36x4 – 40x5 – 30x6 – 32x7 – 16x8 – 27x9 – 9x10 ≤ –199 (A3’)

The mixed surrogate constraint combines (A2) and (A3’).

The weight for (A2) is identified by pivoting on the variable in the surrogate constraint that received a fractional value in the LP solution. Thus, x6 is the variable giving the pivot element, and the dual weight is 5. Consequently, we weight (A2) by 5 and add the result to (A3’) to create the mixed surrogate constraint:

– 15x1 – 14x2 – 4x3 – 6x4 + 0x5 + 0x6 + 8x7 + 4x8 + 18x9 + 6x10 ≤ – 34 (A4)

To put (A4) into the standard non-negative coefficient format, we set yj = 1 – xj to complement the appropriate variables, giving

15y1 + 14y2 + 4y3 + 6y4 + 0y5 + 0x6 + 8x7 + 4x8 + 18x9 + 6x10 ≤ 5 (A5)

We have complemented x5 even though it has a 0 coefficient because it is one of the variables set equal to 1 in the knapsack LP solution.

Example B:

Consider the example of Osorio et al. with 15 variables and 4 knapsack constraints whose data are presented in the Table 1.





j

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15




cj

36

83

59

71

43

67

23

52

93

25

67

89

60

47

64

A0

Aj1

7

19

30

22

30

44

11

21

35

14

29

18

3

36

42

87

Aj2

3

5

7

35

24

31

25

37

35

25

40

21

7

17

22

75

Aj3

20

33

17

45

12

21

20

2

7

17

21

11

11

9

21

65

Aj4

15

17

9

11

5

5

12

21

17

10

5

13

9

7

13

55

Table 1 : Data set of example B
The optimal value of the LP-relaxation of this problem is equal to 335.62 and an optimal dual vector is

u*(LP) = (335.62, 0.66, 0.52, 0.62, 2.78)

An optimal solution of this LP-relaxation and an initial feasible solution, denoted by and x* respectively, are given below with their associated cost :



= (0, 0.72, 0.49, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.89, 0, 0.22, 1, 1, 0, 0) c = 335.62

x* = (0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0) cx* = 301.

The reduced cost vector  in the LP solution, which corresponds to the coefficients of the mixed surrogate constraint (4) is

 = (24.41, 0, 0, 20.47, 10.65, 5.11, 43.21, 40.89, 0, 35.73, 0, -23.13, -22.44, 10.62, 24.36)

If we had included weights for the simple bounding inequalities as in Osorio et al., the mixed surrogate constraint (4) would have 0 coefficients for each of the variables that appears with a negative reduced cost.



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