Binary Branch-And-Bound: Implicit Enumeration
Binary Branch-And-Bound: Implicit Enumeration
BINARY BRANCH-AND-BOUND
General idea
The idea is to utilize a branch-and-bound (or
subdivision) process to fix some of the variables
at 0 or 1.
The variables remaining to be specified are called
free variables.
Note that, when the inequality constraints are
ignored, the objective function is maximized by
setting the free variables to zero, since their
objective function coefficients are negative.
This is mandatory to apply this algorithm.
Example
maximization problem
subject to:
Completing it
Complete
tree
Note that
1. At , the solution x = 0, x = x3
with free
variables x4 = x5 = 0, is feasible, with z = 4, thus
providing an improved lower bound on z.
2. At , the solution x = x3 = 0, x = x4
and
free variable x5 = 0, has
so that no
solution in that subdivision can be as good as
that generated at .
3. At and , every free variable is fixed. In each
case, the subdivisions contain only a single
point, which is infeasible, and further
subdivision is not possible.
Note that
4. At , the second inequality (with fixed
variables x = x = 0) reads:
x3 4 + x 5
No 01 values of x3, x4, or x5 completing
the fixed variables x = x = 0 satisfy this
constraint, since the lowest value for the
lefthand
x3 =
and x5 = 0.
x4
The subdivision then has no feasible solution
and need not be analyzed further.
Generalizing
Subdivisions are fathomed if any of three
conditions hold:
i.
Once again
This algorithm is designed for problems in
which:
1. the objective is a maximization with all
coefficients negative; and
2. constraints are specified as less than or equal
to inequalities.
If not, then
Problem transformation
Minimization problems are transformed to
maximization by multiplying cost coefficients by
If xj appears in the maximization form with a
positive coefficient, then the variable substitution
xj
xj everywhere in the model leaves the
binary variable xj with a negative objectivefunction coefficient.
Greater than or equal to constraints can be
to constraints.