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Gruber P. Convex and Discrete Geometry

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348 <strong>Convex</strong> Polytopes<br />

Totally Dual Integral Systems of Linear Inequalities<br />

The implication (i)⇒(ii) in this corollary says the following. Let Ax ≤ b be a rational<br />

system of linear inequalities. If sup{cx : Ax ≤ b} is attained by an integer vector x<br />

for each rational row vector c for which the supremum is finite, then it is an integer<br />

for each integer row vector c for which the supremum is finite. The duality equality<br />

sup{cx : Ax ≤ b} =inf{yb: y ≥ o, yA = c}<br />

then led Edmonds <strong>and</strong> Giles [287] to define the following: a rational system of linear<br />

inequalities Ax ≤ b is totally dual integral if inf{yb: y ≥ o, yA = c} is attained by<br />

an integer row vector y for each integer row vector c for which the infimum is finite.<br />

This implies, in particular, that Proposition (ii) of the above corollary holds, which,<br />

in turn, shows that P ={x : Ax ≤ b} is a lattice polyhedron.<br />

Note that there are rational systems of linear inequalities which define the same<br />

lattice polyhedron <strong>and</strong> such that one system is totally dual integral while the other<br />

is not.<br />

Complexity of Integer Linear Optimization for Lattice Polyhedra <strong>and</strong> Totally<br />

Dual Integral Systems<br />

We have stated earlier that, presumably, there is no polynomial time algorithm for<br />

general integer linear optimization problems. Fortunately, for lattice polyhedra <strong>and</strong><br />

totally dual integral systems the situation is better:<br />

There is a polynomial algorithm by Lenstra [647] which finds for a fixed number<br />

of variables an optimum solution of the integer linear optimization problem<br />

sup{cx : Ax ≤ b, x ∈ Z d }.<br />

Similarly, there is a polynomial algorithm which finds an integral optimum solution<br />

for the linear optimization problem<br />

inf{yb: y ≥ o, yA = c}<br />

if Ax ≤ b is a totally dual integral system with A integer <strong>and</strong> c an integer row vector.<br />

For proofs <strong>and</strong> references, see Schrijver [915], pp. 232, 331.<br />

Considering these remarks, it is of interest to find out whether a given rational<br />

system Ax ≤ b defines a lattice polyhedron or is totally dual integral. See [915].<br />

20.5 Hilbert Bases <strong>and</strong> Totally Dual Integral Systems<br />

For a better underst<strong>and</strong>ing of totally dual integral systems of linear inequalities, Giles<br />

<strong>and</strong> Pulleyblank [378] introduced the notion of a Hilbert basis of a polyhedral convex<br />

cone.<br />

In this section we present the geometric Hilbert basis theorem of Gordan <strong>and</strong> van<br />

der Corput <strong>and</strong> show how one uses Hilbert bases to characterize totally dual integral

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