Monday, 4 April 2016

oc.optimization control - Minimize The k-th Largest Element under Linear Constraints

The problem is NP-hard, unless there is more to it than what is stated, and one cannot hope for an efficient approximation to any reasonable degree unless P = NP.



One way to show this is by a reduction from vertex cover, which may be established as follows. For any undirected graph $G = (V,E)$, let $Minmathbb{R}^{Etimes V}$ be the incidence matrix of $G$, and let $K$ be the cone of vectors $xinmathbb{R}^V$ such that $Mx geq 0$ (or $-Mx leq 0$, as the question statement would prefer). If $G$ has a vertex cover of size $k$, then $inf_{xin K} F_{k+1}(x) = -infty$. If not, $inf_{xin K} F_{k+1}(x) = 0$. Without further assumptions, this would seem to rule out the existence of an efficient approximation algorithm of any sort.



The same general idea, with simple modifications, will establish a reduction if $x$ is constrained to the nonnegative orthant.



It should also be noted that the problem does not become easier under the assumption $xinmathbb{Z}^n$, counter to what the question suggests.

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