Lecture 'Symmetry Handling in Mathematical Programming Solving'
- For whom
- Employees , Students
- When
- 24-02-2025 from 11:30 to 14:00
- Where
- Auditorium 2.2 - Hoveniersberg (Campus Tweekerken), Tweekerkenstraat 2, 9000 Ghent
- Language
- English
- Organizer
- Department of Business Informatics and Operations Management - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
- Contact
- dries.goossens@ugent.be
A discussion of problems related to symmetry in mathematical programs and ways to deal with them by dr. Jasper van Doornmalen.
Many optimization problems are solved in an effective and fast way with modern general-purpose mathematical programming solvers such as Gurobi, CPLEX, SCIP, BARON and OR-Tools. These solvers are complex pieces of machinery, consisting of many carefully designed components to improve the performance.
One component of mathematical programming solvers is symmetry handling. In a standard branch-and-bound context where symmetries are not exploited, it is possible that many symmetrically equivalent problems are solved in each sub-problem. This means that if many symmetries are present, the effect of branching is diminished. Therefore, to solve highly symmetric problems effectively, it is crucial to handle symmetries.
This presentation outlines the problem with symmetries in mathematical programs via a simple application, and show how these can be handled in a straightforward way.