Strong duality is a condition in mathematical optimization in which the primal optimal objective and the dual optimal objective are equal. This is as opposed to weak duality (the primal problem has optimal value smaller than or equal to the dual problem, in other words the duality gap is greater than or equal to zero).
Strong duality holds if and only if the duality gap is equal to 0.
Sufficient conditions comprise:
Linear programming (LP), also called linear optimization, is a method to achieve the best outcome in a mathematical model whose requirements are represented by linear relationships. Linear programming is a special case of mathematical programming.
Mathematical optimization or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. Optimization problems of sorts arise in all quantitative disciplines from computer science and engineering to operations research and economics, and the development of solution methods has been of interest in mathematics for centuries.
In mathematics, nonlinear programming (NLP) is the process of solving an optimization problem where some of the constraints or the objective function are nonlinear. An optimization problem is one of calculation of the extrema of an objective function over a set of unknown real variables and conditional to the satisfaction of a system of equalities and inequalities, collectively termed constraints. It is the sub-field of mathematical optimization that deals with problems that are not linear.
Interior-point methods are a certain class of algorithms that solve linear and nonlinear convex optimization problems.
Convex optimization is a subfield of mathematical optimization that studies the problem of minimizing convex functions over convex sets. Many classes of convex optimization problems admit polynomial-time algorithms, whereas mathematical optimization is in general NP-hard.
In mathematical optimization, the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions, also known as the Kuhn–Tucker conditions, are first derivative tests for a solution in nonlinear programming to be optimal, provided that some regularity conditions are satisfied.
The Frank–Wolfe algorithm is an iterative first-order optimization algorithm for constrained convex optimization. Also known as the conditional gradient method, reduced gradient algorithm and the convex combination algorithm, the method was originally proposed by Marguerite Frank and Philip Wolfe in 1956. In each iteration, the Frank–Wolfe algorithm considers a linear approximation of the objective function, and moves towards a minimizer of this linear function.
Convex analysis is the branch of mathematics devoted to the study of properties of convex functions and convex sets, often with applications in convex minimization, a subdomain of optimization theory.
In mathematical optimization theory, duality or the duality principle is the principle that optimization problems may be viewed from either of two perspectives, the primal problem or the dual problem. If the primal is a minimization problem then the dual is a maximization problem. Any feasible solution to the primal (minimization) problem is at least as large as any feasible solution to the dual (maximization) problem. Therefore, the solution to the primal is an upper bound to the solution of the dual, and the solution of the dual is a lower bound to the solution of the primal. This fact is called weak duality.
Semidefinite programming (SDP) is a subfield of convex optimization concerned with the optimization of a linear objective function over the intersection of the cone of positive semidefinite matrices with an affine space, i.e., a spectrahedron.
In mathematics, the relaxation of a (mixed) integer linear program is the problem that arises by removing the integrality constraint of each variable.
The dual of a given linear program (LP) is another LP that is derived from the original LP in the following schematic way:
Benders decomposition is a technique in mathematical programming that allows the solution of very large linear programming problems that have a special block structure. This block structure often occurs in applications such as stochastic programming as the uncertainty is usually represented with scenarios. The technique is named after Jacques F. Benders.
The Shapley–Folkman lemma is a result in convex geometry with applications in mathematical economics that describes the Minkowski addition of sets in a vector space. Minkowski addition is defined as the addition of the sets' members: for example, adding the set consisting of the integers zero and one to itself yields the set consisting of zero, one, and two:
Augmented Lagrangian methods are a certain class of algorithms for solving constrained optimization problems. They have similarities to penalty methods in that they replace a constrained optimization problem by a series of unconstrained problems and add a penalty term to the objective; the difference is that the augmented Lagrangian method adds yet another term, designed to mimic a Lagrange multiplier. The augmented Lagrangian is related to, but not identical with the method of Lagrange multipliers.
In mathematics, Slater's condition is a sufficient condition for strong duality to hold for a convex optimization problem, named after Morton L. Slater. Informally, Slater's condition states that the feasible region must have an interior point.
In optimization problems in applied mathematics, the duality gap is the difference between the primal and dual solutions. If is the optimal dual value and is the optimal primal value then the duality gap is equal to . This value is always greater than or equal to 0. The duality gap is zero if and only if strong duality holds. Otherwise the gap is strictly positive and weak duality holds.
In mathematical optimization, the perturbation function is any function which relates to primal and dual problems. The name comes from the fact that any such function defines a perturbation of the initial problem. In many cases this takes the form of shifting the constraints.
In applied mathematics, weak duality is a concept in optimization which states that the duality gap is always greater than or equal to 0. That means the solution to the dual (minimization) problem is always greater than or equal to the solution to an associated primal problem. This is opposed to strong duality which only holds in certain cases.
In the theory of linear programming, a basic feasible solution (BFS) is a solution with a minimal set of non-zero variables. Geometrically, each BFS corresponds to a corner of the polyhedron of feasible solutions. If there exists an optimal solution, then there exists an optimal BFS. Hence, to find an optimal solution, it is sufficient to consider the BFS-s. This fact is used by the simplex algorithm, which essentially travels from some BFS to another until an optimal one is found.
