Some Explicit Results for the Distribution Problem of Stochastic Linear Programming

A technique is developed for finding a closed form expression for the cumulative distribution function of the maximum value of the objective function in a stochastic linear programming problem, where either the objective function coefficients or the right hand side coefficients are continuous random vectors with known probability distributions. This is the “wait and see” problem of stochastic linear programming. Explicit results for the distribution problem are extremely difficult to obtain;indeed, previous results are known only if the right hand side coefficients have an exponential distribution [1]. To date, no explicit results have been obtained for stochastic c, and no new results of any form have appeared since the 1970’s. In this paper, we obtain the first results for stochastic c, and new explicit results if b an c are stochastic vectors with an exponential, gamma, uniform, or triangle distribution. A transformation is utilized that greatly reduces computational time.

Convexity Properties for a Function of Two Integer Variables

Sufficient conditions are given for any local minimum of a function of two integer variables to be a global minimum. An example is given to show that a function of two integer variables need not be discrete convex for this condition to hold.