Additional Exercises for Convex Optimization

Stephen Boyd

Lieven Vandenberghe

August 30, 2012

This is a collection of additional exercises, meant to supplement those found in the book Convex
Optimization, by Stephen Boyd and Lieven Vandenberghe. These exercises were used in several
courses on convex optimization, EE364a (Stanford), EE236b (UCLA), or 6.975 (MIT), usually for
homework, but sometimes as exam questions. Some of the exercises were originally written for the
book, but were removed at some point. Many of them include a computational component using
CVX, available at www.stanford.edu/~boyd/cvx/. Matlab files required for these exercises can
be found at the book web site www.stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/. Some of the exercises require
a knowledge of elementary analysis.
You are free to use these exercises any way you like (for example in a course you teach), provided
you acknowledge the source. In turn, we gratefully acknowledge the teaching assistants (and in
some cases, students) who have helped us develop and debug these exercises. Pablo Parrilo helped
develop some of the exercises that were originally used in 6.975.
Course instructors can obtain solutions by request to [email protected], or by email
to us. In either case please specify the course you are teaching and give its URL.
Well update this document as new exercises become available, so the exercise numbers and
sections will occasionally change. We have categorized the exercises into sections that follow the
book chapters, as well as various additional application areas. Some exercises fit into more than
one section, or dont fit well into any section, so we have just arbitrarily assigned these.
Stephen Boyd and Lieven Vandenberghe

Contents
1 Convex sets

2 Convex functions

3 Convex optimization problems

12

4 Duality

24

5 Approximation and fitting

37

6 Statistical estimation

49

7 Geometry

56

8 Unconstrained and equality constrained minimization

71

9 Interior point methods

77

10 Mathematical background

82

11 Circuit design

83

12 Signal processing and communications

90

13 Finance

100

14 Mechanical and aerospace engineering

113

15 Graphs and networks

123

16 Energy and power

131

17 Miscellaneous applications

142

Convex sets

1.1 Is the set {a Rk | p(0) = 1, |p(t)| 1 for t }, where

p(t) = a1 + a2 t + + ak tk1 ,
convex?
1.2 Set distributive characterization of convexity. [7, p21], [6, Theorem 3.2] Show that C Rn is
convex if and only if ( + )C = C + C for all nonnegative , .
1.3 Composition of linear-fractional functions. Suppose : Rn Rm and : Rm Rp are the
linear-fractional functions
(x) =

Ax + b
,
cT x + d

(y) =

Ey + f
,
gT y + h

with domains dom = {x | cT x + d > 0}, dom = {y | g T x + h > 0}. We associate with and
the matrices
"
#
"
#
A b
E f
,
,
cT d
gT h
respectively.
Now consider the composition of and , i.e., (x) = ((x)), with domain
dom = {x dom | (x) dom }.
Show that is linear-fractional, and that the matrix associated with it is the product
"

E
gT

f
h

#"

A
cT

b
d

1.4 Dual of exponential cone. The exponential cone Kexp R3 is defined as

Kexp = {(x, y, z) | y > 0, yex/y z}.
.
Find the dual cone Kexp

We are not worried here about the fine details of what happens on the boundaries of these cones,
so you really neednt worry about it. But we make some comments here for those who do care
about such things.
The cone Kexp as defined above is not closed. To obtain its closure, we need to add the points
{(x, y, z) | x 0, y = 0, z 0}.
(This makes no difference, since the dual of a cone is equal to the dual of its closure.)
1.5 Dual of intersection of cones. Let C and D be closed convex cones in Rn . In this problem we will
show that
(C D) = C + D .
Here, + denotes set addition: C + D is the set {u + v | u C , v D }. In other words, the
dual of the intersection of two closed convex cones is the sum of the dual cones.
3

(a) Show that C D and C + D are convex cones. (In fact, C D and C + D are closed, but
we wont ask you to show this.)
(b) Show that (C D) C + D .

(c) Now lets show (C D) C + D . You can do this by first showing

(C D) C + D C D (C + D ) .
You can use the following result:
If K is a closed convex cone, then K = K.
Next, show that C D (C + D ) and conclude (C D) = C + D .

(d) Show that the dual of the polyhedral cone V = {x | Ax  0} can be expressed as
V = {AT v | v  0}.
1.6 Polar of a set. The polar of C Rn is defined as the set
C = {y Rn | y T x 1 for all x C}.
(a) Show that C is convex (even if C is not).
(b) What is the polar of a cone?
(c) What is the polar of the unit ball for a norm k k?

(d) Show that if C is closed and convex, with 0 int C, then (C ) = C.

Convex functions

2.1 Maximum of a convex function over a polyhedron. Show that the maximum of a convex function f
over the polyhedron P = conv{v1 , . . . , vk } is achieved at one of its vertices, i.e.,
sup f (x) = max f (vi ).

xP

i=1,...,k

(A stronger statement is: the maximum of a convex function over a closed bound convex set is
achieved at an extreme point, i.e., a point in the set that is not a convex combination of any other
points in the set.) Hint. Assume the statement is false, and use Jensens inequality.
2.2 A general vector composition rule. Suppose
f (x) = h(g1 (x), g2 (x), . . . , gk (x))
where h : Rk R is convex, and gi : Rn R. Suppose that for each i, one of the following holds:
h is nondecreasing in the ith argument, and gi is convex

h is nonincreasing in the ith argument, and gi is concave

gi is affine.

Show that f is convex. (This composition rule subsumes all the ones given in the book, and is
the one used in software systems such as CVX.) You can assume that dom h = Rk ; the result
the
also holds in the general case when the monotonicity conditions listed above are imposed on h,
extended-valued extension of h.
2.3 Logarithmic barrier for the second-order cone. The function f (x, t) = log(t2 xT x), with dom f =
{(x, t) Rn R | t > kxk2 } (i.e., the second-order cone), is convex. (The function f is called the
logarithmic barrier function for the second-order cone.) This can be shown many ways, for example
by evaluating the Hessian and demonstrating that it is positive semidefinite. In this exercise you
establish convexity of f using a relatively painless method, leveraging some composition rules and
known convexity of a few other functions.
(a) Explain why t(1/t)uT u is a concave function on dom f . Hint. Use convexity of the quadratic
over linear function.
(b) From this, show that log(t (1/t)uT u) is a convex function on dom f .
(c) From this, show that f is convex.

2.4 A quadratic-over-linear composition theorem. Suppose that f : Rn R is nonnegative and convex,

and g : Rn R is positive and concave. Show that the function f 2 /g, with domain dom f dom g,
is convex.
2.5 A perspective composition rule. [4] Let f : Rn R be a convex function with f (0) 0.
(a) Show that the perspective tf (x/t), with domain {(x, t) | t > 0, x/t dom f }, is nonincreasing
as a function of t.

(b) Let g be concave and positive on its domain. Show that the function
dom h = {x dom g | x/g(x) dom f }

h(x) = g(x)f (x/g(x)),

is convex.
(c) As an example, show that

xT x
h(x) = Qn
,
( k=1 xk )1/n

is convex.

dom h = Rn++

2.6 Perspective of log determinant. Show that f (X, t) = nt log tt log det X, with dom f = Sn++ R++ ,
is convex in (X, t). Use this to show that
g(X) = n(tr X) log(tr X) (tr X)(log det X)
= n

n
X
i=1

log

n
X
i=1

n
X

log i ,

i=1

where i are the eigenvalues of X, is convex on Sn++ .

2.7 Pre-composition with a linear fractional mapping. Suppose f : Rm R is convex, and A Rmn ,
b Rm , c Rn , and d R. Show that g : Rn R, defined by
g(x) = (cT x + d)f ((Ax + b)/(cT x + d)),

dom g = {x | cT x + d > 0},

is convex.
2.8 Scalar valued linear fractional functions. A function f : Rn R is called linear fractional if it has
the form f (x) = (aT x + b)/(cT x + d), with dom f = {x | cT x + d > 0}. When is a linear fractional
function convex? When is a linear fractional function quasiconvex?
2.9 Show that the function
f (x) =
is convex on {x | kxk2 < 1}.

kAx bk22
1 xT x

2.10 Weighted geometric mean. The geometric mean f (x) = (

as shown on page 74. Extend the proof to show that
f (x) =

n
Y

xk k ,

xk )1/n with dom f = Rn++ is concave,

dom f = Rn++

k=1

is concave, where k are nonnegative numbers with

2.11 Suppose that f : Rn R is convex, and define
g(x, t) = f (x/t),

k = 1.

dom g = {(x, t) | x/t dom f, t > 0}.

Show that g is quasiconvex.

6

2.12 Continued fraction function. Show that the function

1

f (x) =
x1

1
x2

1
x3

1
x4

defined where every denominator is positive, is convex and decreasing. (There is nothing special
about n = 4 here; the same holds for any number of variables.)
2.13 Circularly symmetric Huber function. The scalar Huber function is defined as
fhub (x) =

(1/2)x2
|x| 1
|x| 1/2 |x| > 1.

This convex function comes up in several applications, including robust estimation. This problem concerns generalizations of the Huber function to Rn . One generalization to Rn is given
by fhub (x1 ) + + fhub (xn ), but this function is not circularly symmetric, i.e., invariant under
transformation of x by an orthogonal matrix. A generalization to Rn that is circularly symmetric
is
(
(1/2)kxk22 kxk2 1
fcshub (x) = fhub (kxk) =
kxk2 1/2 kxk2 > 1.
(The subscript stands for circularly symmetric Huber function.) Show that fcshub is convex. Find

the conjugate function fcshub

.
2.14 Reverse Jensen inequality. Suppose f is convex, 1 > 0, i 0, i = 2, . . . , k, and 1 + + n = 1,
and let x1 , . . . , xn dom f . Show that the inequality
f (1 x1 + + n xn ) 1 f (x1 ) + + n f (xn )
always holds. Hints. Draw a picture for the n = 2 case first. For the general case, express x1 as a
convex combination of 1 x1 + + n xn and x2 , . . . , xn , and use Jensens inequality.
2.15 Monotone extension of a convex function. Suppose f : Rn R is convex. Recall that a function
h : Rn R is monotone nondecreasing if h(x) h(y) whenever x  y. The monotone extension
of f is defined as
g(x) = inf f (x + z).
z0

(We will assume that g(x) > .) Show that g is convex and monotone nondecreasing, and
satisfies g(x) f (x) for all x. Show that if h is any other convex function that satisfies these
properties, then h(x) g(x) for all x. Thus, g is the maximum convex monotone underestimator
of f .
Remark. For simple functions (say, on R) it is easy to work out what g is, given f . On Rn , it
can be very difficult to work out an explicit expression for g. However, systems such as CVX can
immediately handle functions such as g, defined by partial minimization.

2.16 Circularly symmetric convex functions. Suppose f : Rn R is symmetric with respect to rotations,
i.e., f (x) depends only on kxk2 . Show that f must have the form f (x) = (kxk2 ), where : R R
is nondecreasing and convex, with dom f = R. (Conversely, any function of this form is symmetric
and convex, so this form characterizes such functions.)
2.17 Infimal convolution. Let f1 , . . . , fm be convex functions on Rn . Their infimal convolution, denoted
g = f1 fm (several other notations are also used), is defined as
g(x) = inf{f1 (x1 ) + + fm (xm ) | x1 + + xm = x},
with the natural domain (i.e., defined by g(x) < ). In one simple interpretation, fi (xi ) is the cost
for the ith firm to produce a mix of products given by xi ; g(x) is then the optimal cost obtained
if the firms can freely exchange products to produce, all together, the mix given by x. (The name
convolution presumably comes from the observation that if we replace the sum above with the
product, and the infimum above with integration, then we obtain the normal convolution.)
(a) Show that g is convex.
. In other words, the conjugate of the infimal convolution is the
(b) Show that g = f1 + + fm
sum of the conjugates.

2.18 Conjugate of composition of convex and linear function. Suppose A Rmn with rank A = m,
and g is defined as g(x) = f (Ax), where f : Rm R is convex. Show that
g (y) = f ((A )T y),

dom(g ) = AT dom(f ),

where A = (AAT )1 A is the pseudo-inverse of A. (This generalizes the formula given on page 95
for the case when A is square and invertible.)
2.19 [5, p104] Suppose 1 , . . . , n are positive. Show that the function f : Rn R, given by
f (x) =

n
Y

i=1

is concave on
dom f =

(1 exi )i ,

Rn++


)
n
X

xi
i e
1 .


i=1

Hint. The Hessian is given by

2 f (x) = f (x)(yy T diag(z))

where yi = i exi /(1 exi ) and zi = yi /(1 exi ).
2.20 Show that the following functions f : Rn R are convex.
(a) The difference between the maximum and minimum value of a polynomial on a given interval,
as a function of its coefficients:
f (x) = sup p(t) inf p(t)
t[a,b]

t[a,b]

where

a, b are real constants with a < b.

8

p(t) = x1 + x2 t + x3 t2 + + xn tn1 .

(b) The exponential barrier of a set of inequalities:

f (x) =

m
X

e1/fi (x) ,

i=1

dom f = {x | fi (x) < 0, i = 1, . . . , m}.

The functions fi are convex.

(c) The function
f (x) = inf

>0

g(y + x) g(y)

if g is convex and y dom g. (It can be shown that this is the directional derivative of g at
y in the direction x.)
2.21 Symmetric convex functions of eigenvalues. A function f : Rn R is said to be symmetric if it is
invariant with respect to a permutation of its arguments, i.e., f (x) = f (P x) for any permutation
P
matrix P . An example of a symmetric function is f (x) = log( nk=1 exp xk ).

In this problem we show that if f : Rn R is convex and symmetric, then the function g : Sn R
defined as g(X) = f ((X)) is convex, where (X) = (1 (X), 2 (x), . . . , n (X)) is the vector of
eigenvalues of X. This implies, for example, that the function
g(X) = log tr eX = log

n
X

ek (X)

k=1

is convex on Sn .
(a) A square matrix S is doubly stochastic if its elements are nonnegative and all row sums and
column sums are equal to one. It can be shown that every doubly stochastic matrix is a convex
combination of permutation matrices.
Show that if f is convex and symmetric and S is doubly stochastic, then
f (Sx) f (x).
(b) Let Y = Q diag()QT be an eigenvalue decomposition of Y Sn with Q orthogonal. Show
that the n n matrix S with elements Sij = Q2ij is doubly stochastic and that diag(Y ) = S.

(c) Use the results in parts (a) and (b) to show that if f is convex and symmetric and X Sn ,
then
f ((X)) = sup f (diag(V T XV ))
V V

where V is the set of n n orthogonal matrices. Show that this implies that f ((X)) is convex
in X.
2.22 Convexity of nonsymmetric matrix fractional function. Consider the function f : Rnn Rn R,
defined by
f (X, y) = y T X 1 y,
dom f = {(X, y) | X + X T 0}.
When this function is restricted to X Sn , it is convex.

Is f convex? If so, prove it. If not, give a (simple) counterexample.

9

2.23 Show that the following functions f : Rn R are convex.

(a) f (x) = exp(g(x)) where g : Rn R has a convex domain and satisfies
"

2 g(x)
g(x)T

g(x)
1

0

for x dom g.

(b) The function

with A R

mn

f (x) = max {kAP x bk | P is a permutation matrix}

, b Rm .

2.24 Convex hull of functions. Suppose g and h are convex functions, bounded below, with dom g =
dom h = Rn . The convex hull function of g and h is defined as
f (x) = inf {g(y) + (1 )h(z) | y + (1 )z = x, 0 1} ,
where the infimum is over , y, z. Show that the convex hull of h and g is convex. Describe epi f
in terms of epi g and epi h.
2.25 Show that a function f : R R is convex if and only if dom f is convex and

1
1
1

y
z 0
det x
f (x) f (y) f (z)

for all x, y, z dom f with x < y < z.

2.26 Generalization of the convexity of log det X 1 . Let P Rnm have rank m. In this problem we
show that the function f : Sn R, with dom f = Sn++ , and
f (X) = log det(P T X 1 P )
is convex. To prove this, we assume (without loss of generality) that P has the form
P =

"

I
0

where I. The matrix P T X 1 P is then the leading m m principal submatrix of X 1 .

(a) Let Y and Z be symmetric matrices with 0 Y  Z. Show that det Y det Z.

(b) Let X Sn++ , partitioned as

X=

"

X11 X12
T
X22
X12

with X11 Sm . Show that the optimization problem

minimize
subject to

log det Y #
"
Y
0

0
0

10

"

X11 X12
T
X22
X12

with variable Y Sm , has the solution

1 T
Y = X11 X12 X22
X12 .
1 .)
(As usual, we take Sm
++ as the domain of log det Y
Hint. Use the Schur complement characterization of positive definite block matrices (page 651
of the book): if C 0 then
"
#
A B
0
BT C

if and only if A BC 1 B T  0.

(c) Combine the result in part (b) and the minimization property (page 3-19, lecture notes) to
show that the function
1 T 1
f (X) = log det(X11 X12 X22
X12 ) ,
with dom f = Sn++ , is convex.

1 T 1
(d) Show that (X11 X12 X22
X12 ) is the leading m m principal submatrix of X 1 , i.e.,
1 T 1
(X11 X12 X22
X12 ) = P T X 1 P.

Hence, the convex function f defined in part (c) can also be expressed as f (X) = log det(P T X 1 P ).
Hint. Use the formula for the inverse of a symmetric block matrix:
"

A
BT

B
C

#1

"

0
0
0 C 1

"

I
C 1 B T

if C and A BC 1 B T are invertible.

11

(A BC

T 1

B )

"

I
C 1 B T

#T

Convex optimization problems

3.1 Minimizing a function over the probability simplex. Find simple necessary and sufficient conditions
for x Rn to minimize a differentiable convex function f over the probability simplex, {x | 1T x =
1, x  0}.
3.2 Hello World in CVX. Use CVX to verify the optimal values you obtained (analytically) for exercise 4.1 in Convex Optimization.
3.3 Reformulating constraints in CVX. Each of the following CVX code fragments describes a convex
constraint on the scalar variables x, y, and z, but violates the CVX rule set, and so is invalid.
Briefly explain why each fragment is invalid. Then, rewrite each one in an equivalent form that
conforms to the CVX rule set. In your reformulations, you can use linear equality and inequality
constraints, and inequalities constructed using CVX functions. You can also introduce additional
variables, or use LMIs. Be sure to explain (briefly) why your reformulation is equivalent to the
original constraint, if it is not obvious.
Check your reformulations by creating a small problem that includes these constraints, and solving
it using CVX. Your test problem doesnt have to be feasible; its enough to verify that CVX
processes your constraints without error.
Remark. This looks like a problem about how to use CVX software, or tricks for using CVX.
But it really checks whether you understand the various composition rules, convex analysis, and
constraint reformulation rules.
(a) norm([x + 2*y, x - y]) == 0
(b) square(square(x + y)) <= x - y
(c) 1/x + 1/y <= 1; x >= 0; y >= 0
(d) norm([max(x,1), max(y,2)]) <= 3*x + y
(e) x*y >= 1; x >= 0; y >= 0
(f) (x + y)^2/sqrt(y) <= x - y + 5
(g) x^3 + y^3 <= 1; x >= 0; y >= 0
(h) x + z <= 1 + sqrt(x*y - z^2); x >= 0; y >= 0
3.4 Optimal activity levels. Solve the optimal activity level problem described in exercise 4.17 in Convex
Optimization, for the instance with problem data

A=

1
0
0
2
1

2
0
3
1
0

0
3
1
2
3

1
1
1
5
2

cmax

100
100
100
100
100

p=

3
2
7
6

pdisc =

2
1
4
2

q=

4
10
5
10

You can do this by forming the LP you found in your solution of exercise 4.17, or more directly, using
CVX. Give the optimal activity levels, the revenue generated by each one, and the total revenue
generated by the optimal solution. Also, give the average price per unit for each activity level, i.e.,
the ratio of the revenue associated with an activity, to the activity level. (These numbers should
12

be between the basic and discounted prices for each activity.) Give a very brief story explaining,
or at least commenting on, the solution you find.
3.5 Minimizing the ratio of convex and concave piecewise-linear functions. We consider the problem
minimize

maxi=1,...,m (aTi x + bi )
mini=1,...,p (cTi x + di )

subject to F x  g,
with variable x Rn . We assume that cTi x + di > 0 for all x satisfying F x  g, and that the
problem is feasible. This problem is quasiconvex, and can be solved using bisection, with each
iteration involving a feasibility LP. Show how this problem can be solved by solving one LP, using
a trick similar to one described in 4.3.2.
3.6 Two problems involving two norms. We consider the problem
minimize

kAx bk1
,
1 kxk

(1)

minimize

kAx bk21
.
1 kxk

(2)

and the very closely related problem

In both problems, the variable is x Rn , and the data are A Rmn and b Rm . Note that
the only difference between problem (1) and (2) is the square in the numerator. In both problems,
the constraint kxk < 1 is implicit. You can assume that b
/ R(A), in which case the constraint
kxk < 1 can be replaced with kxk 1.
Answer the following two questions, for each of the two problems. (So you will answer four questions
all together.)

(a) Is the problem, exactly as stated (and for all problem data), convex? If not, is it quasiconvex?
Justify your answer.
(b) Explain how to solve the problem. Your method can involve an SDP solver, an SOCP solver,
an LP solver, or any combination. You can include a one-parameter bisection, if necessary.
(For example, you can solve the problem by bisection on a parameter, where each iteration
consists of solving an SOCP feasibility problem.)
Give the best method you can. In judging best, we use the following rules:
Bisection methods are worse than one-shot methods. Any method that solves the problem
above by solving one LP, SOCP, or SDP problem is better than any method that uses a
one-parameter bisection. In other words, use a bisection method only if you cannot find
a one-shot method.
Use the simplest solver needed to solve the problem. We consider an LP solver to be
simpler than an SOCP solver, which is considered simpler than an SDP solver. Thus, a
method that uses an LP solver is better than a method that uses an SOCP solver, which
in turn is better than a method that uses an SDP solver.
13

3.7 The illumination problem. In lecture 1 we encountered the function

f (p) = max | log aTi p log Ides |
i=1,...,n

where ai R , and Ides > 0 are given, and p Rm

+.
(a) Show that exp f is convex on {p | aTi p > 0, i = 1, . . . , n }.
(b) Show that the constraint no more than half of the total power is in any 10 lamps is convex
(i.e., the set of vectors p that satisfy the constraint is convex).
(c) Show that the constraint no more than half of the lamps are on is (in general) not convex.
3.8 Schur complements and LMI representation. Recognizing Schur complements (see A5.5) often
helps to represent nonlinear convex constraints as linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Consider the
function
f (x) = (Ax + b)T (P0 + x1 P1 + + xn Pn )1 (Ax + b)
where A Rmn , b Rm , and Pi = PiT Rmm , with domain

dom f = {x Rn | P0 + x1 P1 + + xn Pn 0}.

This is the composition of the matrix fractional function and an affine mapping, and so is convex.
Give an LMI representation of epi f . That is, find a symmetric matrix F (x, t), affine in (x, t), for
which
x dom f, f (x) t

F (x, t)  0.

Remark. LMI representations, such as the one you found in this exercise, can be directly used in
software systems such as CVX.

3.9 Complex least-norm problem. We consider the complex least p -norm problem
minimize kxkp
subject to Ax = b,
where A Cmn , b Cm , and the variable is x Cn . Here k kp denotes the p -norm on Cn ,
defined as
!1/p
n
kxkp =

X
i=1

|xi |p

for p 1, and kxk = maxi=1,...,n |xi |. We assume A is full rank, and m < n.
(a) Formulate the complex least 2 -norm problem as a least 2 -norm problem with real problem
data and variable. Hint. Use z = (x, x) R2n as the variable.
(b) Formulate the complex least -norm problem as an SOCP.
(c) Solve a random instance of both problems with m = 30 and n = 100. To generate the
matrix A, you can use the Matlab command A = randn(m,n) + i*randn(m,n). Similarly,
use b = randn(m,1) + i*randn(m,1) to generate the vector b. Use the Matlab command
scatter to plot the optimal solutions of the two problems on the complex plane, and comment
(briefly) on what you observe. You can solve the problems using the CVX functions norm(x,2)
and norm(x,inf), which are overloaded to handle complex arguments. To utilize this feature,
you will need to declare variables to be complex in the variable statement. (In particular,
you do not have to manually form or solve the SOCP from part (b).)
14

3.10 Linear programming with random cost vector. We consider the linear program
minimize cT x
subject to Ax  b.
Here, however, the cost vector c is random, normally distributed with mean E c = c0 and covariance
E(c c0 )(c c0 )T = . (A, b, and x are deterministic.) Thus, for a given x Rn , the cost cT x is
a (scalar) Gaussian variable.
We can attach several different meanings to the goal minimize cT x; we explore some of these
below.
(a) How would you minimize the expected cost E cT x subject to Ax  b?

(b) In general there is a tradeoff between small expected cost and small cost variance. One way
to take variance into account is to minimize a linear combination
E cT x + var(cT x)

(3)

of the expected value E cT x and the variance var(cT x) = E(cT x)2 (E cT x)2 . This is called
the risk-sensitive cost, and the parameter 0 is called the risk-aversion parameter, since
it sets the relative values of cost variance and expected value. (For > 0, we are willing to
tradeoff an increase in expected cost for a decrease in cost variance). How would you minimize
the risk-sensitive cost? Is this problem a convex optimization problem? Be as specific as you
can.
(c) We can also minimize the risk-sensitive cost, but with < 0. This is called risk-seeking. Is
this problem a convex optimization problem?
(d) Another way to deal with the randomness in the cost cT x is to formulate the problem as
minimize
subject to prob(cT x )
Ax  b.
Here, is a fixed parameter, which corresponds roughly to the reliability we require, and
might typically have a value of 0.01. Is this problem a convex optimization problem? Be as
specific as you can. Can you obtain risk-seeking by choice of ? Explain.
3.11 Formulate the following optimization problems as semidefinite programs. The variable is x Rn ;
F (x) is defined as
F (x) = F0 + x1 F1 + x2 F2 + + xn Fn
with Fi Sm . The domain of f in each subproblem is dom f = {x Rn | F (x) 0}.
(a) Minimize f (x) = cT F (x)1 c where c Rm .

(b) Minimize f (x) = maxi=1,...,K cTi F (x)1 ci where ci Rm , i = 1, . . . , K.

(c) Minimize f (x) = sup cT F (x)1 c.
kck2 1

(d) Minimize f (x) = E(cT F (x)1 c) where c is a random vector with mean E c = c and covariance
E(c c)(c c)T = S.
15

3.12 A matrix fractional function.[1] Show that X = B T A1 B solves the SDP

minimize

tr
" X
A
subject to
BT

B
X

 0,

mn
are given.
with variable X Sn , where A Sm
++ and B R

Conclude that tr(B T A1 B) is a convex function of (A, B), for A positive definite.
3.13 Trace of harmonic mean of matrices. [1] The matrix H(A, B) = 2(A1 + B 1 )1 is known as the
harmonic mean of positive definite matrices A and B. Show that X = (1/2)H(A, B) solves the
SDP
maximize tr
" X
# "
#
X X
A 0
subject to

,
X X
0 B
n
with variable X S
. The matrices A Sn++ and B Sn++ are given. Conclude that the function


1
1
1
tr (A + B ) , with domain Sn++ Sn++ , is concave.

Hint. Verify that the matrix

R=

"

A1 I
B 1 I

is nonsingular. Then apply the congruence transformation defined by R to the two sides of matrix
inequality in the SDP, to obtain an equivalent inequality
R

"

X X
X X

RR

"

A 0
0 B

R.

3.14 Trace of geometric mean of matrices. [1]



G(A, B) = A1/2 A1/2 BA1/2

1/2

A1/2

is known as the geometric mean of positive definite matrices A and B. Show that X = G(A, B)
solves the SDP
maximize tr
" X
#
A X
subject to
 0.
X B
The variable is X Sn . The matrices A Sn++ and B Sn++ are given.

Conclude that the function tr G(A, B) is concave, for A, B positive definite.

Hint. The symmetric matrix square root is monotone: if U and V are positive semidefinite with
U  V then U 1/2  V 1/2 .
3.15 Transforming a standard form convex problem to conic form. In this problem we show that any
convex problem can be cast in conic form, provided some technical conditions hold. We start with
a standard form convex problem with linear objective (without loss of generality):
minimize cT x
subject to fi (x) 0,
Ax = b,
16

i = 1, . . . , m,

where fi : Rn R are convex, and x Rn is the variable. For simplicity, we will assume that
dom fi = Rn for each i.
Now introduce a new scalar variable t R and form the convex problem
minimize cT x
subject to tfi (x/t) 0, i = 1, . . . , m,
Ax = b, t = 1.
Define
K = cl{(x, t) Rn+1 | tfi (x/t) 0, i = 1, . . . , m, t > 0}.
Then our original problem can be expressed as
minimize cT x
subject to (x, t) K,
Ax = b, t = 1.
This is a conic problem when K is proper.
You will relate some properties of the original problem to K.
(a) Show that K is a convex cone. (It is closed by definition, since we take the closure.)
(b) Suppose the original problem is strictly feasible, i.e., there exists a point x
with fi (x) < 0,
i = 1, . . . , m. (This is called Slaters condition.) Show that K has nonempty interior.
(c) Suppose that the inequalities define a bounded set, i.e., {x | fi (x) 0, i = 1, . . . , m} is
bounded. Show that K is pointed.
3.16 Exploring nearly optimal points. An optimization algorithm will find an optimal point for a problem,
provided the problem is feasible. It is often useful to explore the set of nearly optimal points. When
a problem has a strong minimum, the set of nearly optimal points is small; all such points are close
to the original optimal point found. At the other extreme, a problem can have a soft minimum,
which means that there are many points, some quite far from the original optimal point found, that
are feasible and have nearly optimal objective value. In this problem you will use a typical method
to explore the set of nearly optimal points.
We start by finding the optimal value p of the given problem
minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) 0,
hi (x) = 0,

i = 1, . . . , m
i = 1, . . . , p,

as well as an optimal point x Rn . We then pick a small positive number , and a vector c Rn ,
and solve the problem
minimize cT x
subject to fi (x) 0, i = 1, . . . , m
hi (x) = 0, i = 1, . . . , p
f0 (x) p + .
Note that any feasible point for this problem is -suboptimal for the original problem. Solving this
problem multiple times, with different cs, will generate (perhaps different) -suboptimal points. If
17

the problem has a strong minimum, these points will all be close to each other; if the problem has
a weak minimum, they can be quite different.
There are different strategies for choosing c in these experiments. The simplest is to choose the
cs randomly; another method is to choose c to have the form ei , for i = 1, . . . , n. (This method
gives the range of each component of x, over the -suboptimal set.)
You will carry out this method for the following problem, to determine whether it has a strong
minimum or a weak minimum. You can generate the vectors c randomly, with enough samples for
you to come to your conclusion. You can pick = 0.01p , which means that we are considering the
set of 1% suboptimal points.
The problem is a minimum fuel optimal control problem for a vehicle moving in R2 . The position
at time kh is given by p(k) R2 , and the velocity by v(k) R2 , for k = 1, . . . , K. Here h > 0 is
the sampling period. These are related by the equations
p(k + 1) = p(k) + hv(k),

v(k + 1) = (1 )v(k) + (h/m)f (k),

k = 1, . . . , K 1,

where f (k) R2 is the force applied to the vehicle at time kh, m > 0 is the vehicle mass, and
(0, 1) models drag on the vehicle; in the absense of any other force, the vehicle velocity decreases
by the factor 1 in each discretized time interval. (These formulas are approximations of more
accurate formulas that involve matrix exponentials.)
The force comes from two thrusters, and from gravity:
f (k) =

"

cos 1
sin 1

u1 (k) +

"

cos 2
sin 2

u2 (k) +

"

0
mg

k = 1, . . . , K 1.

Here u1 (k) R and u2 (k) R are the (nonnegative) thruster force magnitudes, 1 and 2 are the
directions of the thrust forces, and g = 10 is the constant acceleration due to gravity.
The total fuel use is
F =

K1
X

(u1 (k) + u2 (k)) .

k=1

(Recall that u1 (k) 0, u2 (k) 0.)

The problem is to minimize fuel use subject to the initial condition p(1) = 0, v(1) = 0, and the
way-point constraints
p(ki ) = wi , i = 1, . . . , M.
(These state that at the time hki , the vehicle must pass through the location wi R2 .) In addition,
we require that the vehicle should remain in a square operating region,
kp(k)k P max ,

k = 1, . . . , K.

Both parts of this problem concern the specific problem instance with data given in thrusters_data.m.
(a) Find an optimal trajectory, and the associated minimum fuel use p . Plot the trajectory p(k)
in R2 (i.e., in the p1 , p2 plane). Verify that it passes through the way-points.

18

(b) Generate several 1% suboptimal trajectories using the general method described above, and
plot the associated trajectories in R2 . Would you say this problem has a strong minimum, or
a weak minimum?
3.17 Minimum fuel optimal control. Solve the minimum fuel optimal control problem described in
exercise 4.16 of Convex Optimization, for the instance with problem data

1 0.4 0.8

0
0 ,
A= 1
0
1
0

b = 0 ,
0.3

xdes

= 2 ,
6

N = 30.

You can do this by forming the LP you found in your solution of exercise 4.16, or more directly
using CVX. Plot the actuator signal u(t) as a function of time t.
3.18 Heuristic suboptimal solution for Boolean LP. This exercise builds on exercises 4.15 and 5.13 in
Convex Optimization, which involve the Boolean LP
minimize cT x
subject to Ax  b
xi {0, 1},

i = 1, . . . , n,

with optimal value p . Let xrlx be a solution of the LP relaxation

minimize cT x
subject to Ax  b
0  x  1,
so L = cT xrlx is a lower bound on p . The relaxed solution xrlx can also be used to guess a Boolean
point x
, by rounding its entries, based on a threshold t [0, 1]:
x
i =

1 xrlx
i t
0 otherwise,

for i = 1, . . . , n. Evidently x
is Boolean (i.e., has entries in {0, 1}). If it is feasible for the Boolean
LP, i.e., if A
x  b, then it can be considered a guess at a good, if not optimal, point for the Boolean
LP. Its objective value, U = cT x
, is an upper bound on p . If U and L are close, then x
is nearly
optimal; specifically, x
cannot be more than (U L)-suboptimal for the Boolean LP.

This rounding need not work; indeed, it can happen that for all threshold values, x
is infeasible.
But for some problem instances, it can work well.

Of course, there are many variations on this simple scheme for (possibly) constructing a feasible,
good point from xrlx .
Finally, we get to the problem. Generate problem data using
rand(state,0);
n=100;
m=300;
A=rand(m,n);
b=A*ones(n,1)/2;
c=-rand(n,1);
19

You can think of xi as a job we either accept or decline, and ci as the (positive) revenue we
generate if we accept job i. We can think of Ax  b as a set of limits on m resources. Aij , which
is positive, is the amount of resource i consumed if we accept job j; bi , which is positive, is the
amount of resource i available.
Find a solution of the relaxed LP and examine its entries. Note the associated lower bound L.
Carry out threshold rounding for (say) 100 values of t, uniformly spaced over [0, 1]. For each value
of t, note the objective value cT x
and the maximum constraint violation maxi (A
x b)i . Plot the
objective value and the maximum violation versus t. Be sure to indicate on the plot the values of
t for which x
is feasible, and those for which it is not.
Find a value of t for which x
is feasible, and gives minimum objective value, and note the associated
upper bound U . Give the gap U L between the upper bound on p and the lower bound on p . If
you define vectors obj and maxviol, you can find the upper bound as U=min(obj(find(maxviol<=0))).
3.19 Optimal operation of a hybrid vehicle. Solve the instance of the hybrid vehicle operation problem described in exercise 4.65 in Convex Optimization, with problem data given in the file hybrid_veh_data.m,
and fuel use function F (p) = p + p2 (for p 0).
Hint. You will actually formulate and solve a relaxation of the original problem. You may find that
some of the equality constraints you relaxed to inequality constraints do not hold for the solution
found. This is not an error: it just means that there is no incentive (in terms of the objective) for
the inequality to be tight. You can fix this in (at least) two ways. One is to go back and adjust
certain variables, without affecting the objective and maintaining feasibility, so that the relaxed
constraints hold with equality. Another simple method is to add to the objective a term of the
form

T
X
t=1

max{0, Pmg (t)},

where is small and positive. This makes it more attractive to use the brakes to extract power
from the wheels, even when the battery is (or will be) full (which removes any fuel incentive).
Find the optimal fuel consumption, and compare to the fuel consumption with a non-hybrid version of the same vehicle (i.e., one without a battery). Plot the braking power, engine power,
motor/generator power, and battery energy versus time.
max , i.e., the partial
How would you use optimal dual variables for this problem to find Ftotal /Ebatt
derivative of optimal fuel consumption with respect to battery capacity? (You can just assume
that this partial derivative exists.) You do not have to give a long derivation or proof; you can
just state how you would find this derivative from optimal dual variables for the problem. Verify
your method numerically, by changing the battery capacity a small amount and re-running the
optimization, and comparing this to the prediction made using dual variables.

3.20 Optimal vehicle speed scheduling. A vehicle (say, an airplane) travels along a fixed path of n
segments, between n + 1 waypoints labeled 0, . . . , n. Segment i starts at waypoint i 1 and
terminates at waypoint i. The vehicle starts at time t = 0 at waypoint 0. It travels over each
segment at a constant (nonnegative) speed; si is the speed on segment i. We have lower and upper
limits on the speeds: smin  s  smax . The vehicle does not stop at the waypoints; it simply
proceeds to the next segment. The travel distance of segment i is di (which is positive), so the
travel time over segment i is di /si . We let i , i = 1, . . . , n, denote the time at which the vehicle
20

arrives at waypoint i. The vehicle is required to arrive at waypoint i, for i = 1, . . . , n, between

times imin and imax , which are given. The vehicle consumes fuel over segment i at a rate that
depends on its speed, (si ), where is positive, increasing, and convex, and has units of kg/s.
You are given the data d (segment travel distances), smin and smax (speed bounds), min and max
(waypoint arrival time bounds), and the fuel use function : R R. You are to choose the speeds
s1 , . . . , sn so as to minimize the total fuel consumed in kg.
(a) Show how to pose this as a convex optimization problem. If you introduce new variables, or
change variables, you must explain how to recover the optimal speeds from the solution of
your problem. If convexity of the objective or any constraint function in your formulation is
not obvious, explain why it is convex.
(b) Carry out the method of part (a) on the problem instance with data in
veh_speed_sched_data.m. Use the fuel use function (si ) = as2i + bsi + c (the parameters a,
b, and c are defined in the data file). What is the optimal fuel consumption? Plot the optimal
speed versus segment, using the matlab command stairs to better show constant speed over
the segments.
3.21 Norm approximation via SOCP, for p -norms with rational p.
(a) Use the observation at the beginning of exercise 4.26 in Convex Optimization to express the
constraint

y, z1 , z2 0,
y z1 z2 ,
with variables y, z1 , z2 , as a second-order cone constraint. Then extend your result to the
constraint
y (z1 z2 zn )1/n ,
y 0,
z  0,

where n is a positive integer, and the variables are y R and z Rn . First assume that n is
a power of two, and then generalize your formulation to arbitrary positive integers.
(b) Express the constraint
f (x) t
as a second-order cone constraint, for the following two convex functions f :
f (x) =

x x 0
0
x < 0,

where is rational and greater than or equal to one, and

f (x) = x ,

dom f = R++ ,

where is rational and negative.

(c) Formulate the norm approximation problem
minimize kAx bkp

21

as a second-order cone program, where p is a rational number greater than or equal to one.
The variable in the optimization problem is x Rn . The matrix A Rmn and the vector
b Rm are given. For an m-vector y, the norm kykp is defined as
kykp =

m
X

k=1

|yk |

!1/p

when p 1.
3.22 Linear optimization over the complement of a convex set. Suppose C Rn+ is a closed bounded
convex set with 0 C, and c Rn+ . We define
C = cl(Rn+ \ C) = cl{x Rn+ | x 6 C},

which is the closure of the complement of C in Rn+ .

Show that cT x has a minimizer over C of the form ek , where 0 and ek is the kth standard
unit vector. (If you have not had a course on analysis, you can give an intuitive argument.)
If follows that we can minimize cT x over C by solving n one-dimensional optimization problems
(which, indeed, can each be solved by bisection, provided we can check whether a point is in C or
not).
3.23 Jensens inequality for posynomials. Suppose f : Rn R is a posynomial function, x, y Rn++ ,
and [0, 1]. Define z Rn++ by zi = xi yi1 , i = 1, . . . , n. Show that f (z) f (x) f (y)1 .

Interpretation. We can think of z as a -weighted geometric mean between x and y. So the

statement above is that a posynomial, evaluated at a weighted geometric mean of two points, is no
more than the weighted geometric mean of the posynomial evaluated at the two points.

3.24 CVX implementation of a concave function. Consider the concave function f : R R defined by
f (x) =

(x + 1)/2 x > 1

x
0 x 1,

with dom f = R+ . Give a CVX implementation of f , via a partially specified optimization problem.
Check your implementation by maximizing f (x) + f (a x) for several interesting values of a (say,
a = 1, a = 1, and a = 3).
3.25 The following optimization problem arises in portfolio optimization:
maximize
subject to

rT x + d
kRx + qk2
n
P

i=1

fi (xi ) b

x  c.

The variable is x Rn . The functions fi are defined as

fi (x) = i xi + i |xi | + i |xi |3/2 ,

with i > |i |, i > 0. We assume there exists a feasible x with rT x + d > 0.

Show that this problem can be solved by solving an SOCP (if possible) or a sequence of SOCP
feasibility problems (otherwise).
22

3.26 Positive nonconvex QCQP. We consider a (possibly nonconvex) QCQP, with nonnegative variable
x Rn ,
minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) 0, i = 1, . . . , m
x  0,
where fi (x) = (1/2)xT Pi x + qiT x + ri , with Pi Sn , qi Rn , and ri R, for i = 0, . . . , m. We do
not assume that Pi  0, so this need not be a convex problem.

Suppose that qi  0, and Pi have nonpositive off-diagonal entries, i.e., they satisfy
(Pi )jk 0,

j 6= k,

j, k = 1, . . . , n,

for i = 0, . . . , m. (A matrix with nonpositive off-diagonal entries is called a Z-matrix.) Explain

how to reformulate this problem as a convex problem.
Hint. Change variables using yj = (xj ), for some suitable function .

23

Duality

4.1 Numerical perturbation analysis example. Consider the quadratic program

minimize x21 + 2x22 x1 x2 x1
subject to x1 + 2x2 u1
x1 4x2 u2 ,
5x1 + 76x2 1,
with variables x1 , x2 , and parameters u1 , u2 .
(a) Solve this QP, for parameter values u1 = 2, u2 = 3, to find optimal primal variable values
x1 and x2 , and optimal dual variable values 1 , 2 and 3 . Let p denote the optimal objective
value. Verify that the KKT conditions hold for the optimal primal and dual variables you
found (within reasonable numerical accuracy).
Hint: See 3.7 of the CVX users guide to find out how to retrieve optimal dual variables. To
specify the quadratic objective, use quad_form().
(b) We will now solve some perturbed versions of the QP, with
u1 = 2 + 1 ,

u2 = 3 + 2 ,

where 1 and 2 each take values from {0.1, 0, 0.1}. (There are a total of nine such combinations, including the original problem with 1 = 2 = 0.) For each combination of 1 and 2 ,
make a prediction ppred of the optimal value of the perturbed QP, and compare it to pexact ,
the exact optimal value of the perturbed QP (obtained by solving the perturbed QP). Put
your results in the two righthand columns in a table with the form shown below. Check that
the inequality ppred pexact holds.
1
0
0
0
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

2
0
0.1
0.1
0
0.1
0.1
0
0.1
0.1

ppred

pexact

4.2 A determinant maximization problem. We consider the problem

minimize log det X 1
subject to ATi XAi  Bi ,

i = 1, . . . , m,

i
, i = 1, . . . , m. The constraint
with variable X Sn , and problem data Ai Rnki , Bi Sk++
X 0 is implicit.

We can give several interpretations of this problem. Here is one, from statistics. Let z be a random
variable in Rn , with covariance matrix X, which is unknown. However, we do have (matrix) upper
24

bounds on the covariance of the random variables yi = ATi z Rki , which is ATi XAi . The problem
is to find the covariance matrix for z, that is consistent with the known upper bounds on the
covariance of yi , that has the largest volume confidence ellipsoid.
Derive the Lagrange dual of this problem. Be sure to state what the dual variables are (e.g.,
vectors, scalars, matrices), any constraints they must satisfy, and what the dual function is. If
the dual function has any implicit equality constraints, make them explicit. You can assume that
Pm
T
i=1 Ai Ai 0, which implies the feasible set of the original problem is bounded.
What can you say about the optimal duality gap for this problem?

4.3 The relative entropy between two vectors x, y Rn++ is defined as

n
X

xk log(xk /yk ).

k=1

This is a convex function, jointly in x and y. In the following problem we calculate the vector x
that minimizes the relative entropy with a given vector y, subject to equality constraints on x:
n
X

minimize

xk log(xk /yk )

k=1

subject to Ax = b
1T x = 1
The optimization variable is x Rn . The domain of the objective function is Rn++ . The parameters
y Rn++ , A Rmn , and b Rm are given.
Derive the Lagrange dual of this problem and simplify it to get
maximize bT z log
(ak is the kth column of A).

Pn

k=1 yk e

aT
kz

4.4 Source localization from range measurements. [3] A signal emitted by a source at an unknown
position x Rn (n = 2 or n = 3) is received by m sensors at known positions y1 , . . . , ym Rn .
From the strength of the received signals, we can obtain noisy estimates dk of the distances kxyk k2 .
We are interested in estimating the source position x based on the measured distances dk .
In the following problem the error between the squares of the actual and observed distances is
minimized:
m
minimize f0 (x) =

X

k=1

kx yk k22 d2k

2

Introducing a new variable t = xT x, we can express this as

minimize
subject to

m 
X

k=1
xT x

t 2ykT x + kyk k22 d2k

t = 0.

2

(4)

The variables are x Rn , t R. Although this problem is not convex, it can be shown that
strong duality holds. (It is a variation on the problem discussed on page 229 and in exercise 5.29
of Convex Optimization.)
25

Solve (4) for an example with m = 5,

y1 =

"

1.8
2.5

y2 =

"

2.0
1.7

y3 =

"

1.5
1.5

y4 =

"

1.5
2.0

y5 =

"

2.5
1.5

and
d = (2.00, 1.24, 0.59, 1.31, 1.44).
The figure shows some contour lines of the cost function f0 , with the positions yk indicated by
circles.
3

2.5

x2

1.5

0.5
0.5

1.5

x1

2.5

To solve the problem, you can note that x is easily obtained from the KKT conditions for (4) if
the optimal multiplier for the equality constraint is known. You can use one of the following
two methods to find .
Derive the dual problem, express it as an SDP, and solve it using CVX.

Reduce the KKT conditions to a nonlinear equation in , and pick the correct solution (similarly as in exercise 5.29 of Convex Optimization).

4.5 Projection on the 1 ball. Consider the problem of projecting a point a Rn on the unit ball in
1 -norm:
minimize (1/2)kx ak22
subject to kxk1 1.

Derive the dual problem and describe an efficient method for solving it. Explain how you can
obtain the optimal x from the solution of the dual problem.

4.6 A nonconvex problem with strong duality. On page 229 of Convex Optimization, we consider the
problem
minimize f (x) = xT Ax + 2bT x
(5)
subject to xT x 1
26

with variable x Rn , and data A Sn , b Rn . We do not assume that A is positive semidefinite,

and therefore the problem is not necessarily convex. In this exercise we show that x is (globally)
optimal if and only if there exists a such that
kxk2 1,

0,

A + I  0,

(A + I)x = b,

(1 kxk22 ) = 0.

(6)

From this we will develop an efficient method for finding the global solution. The conditions (6)
are the KKT conditions for (5) with the inequality A + I  0 added.
(a) Show that if x and satisfy (6), then f (x) = inf x L(
x, ) = g(), where L is the Lagrangian
of the problem and g is the dual function. Therefore strong duality holds, and x is globally
optimal.
(b) Next we show that the conditions (6) are also necessary. Assume that x is globally optimal
for (5). We distinguish two cases.
(i) kxk2 < 1. Show that (6) holds with = 0.
(ii) kxk2 = 1. First prove that (A + I)x = b for some 0. (In other words, the negative
gradient (Ax + b) of the objective function is normal to the unit sphere at x, and point
away from the origin.) You can show this by contradiction: if the condition does not
hold, then there exists a direction v with v T x < 0 and v T (Ax + b) < 0. Show that
f (x + tv) < f (x) for small positive t.
It remains to show that A + I  0. If not, there exists a w with wT (A + I)w < 0, and
without loss of generality we can assume that wT x 6= 0. Show that the point y = x + tw
with t = 2wT x/wT w satisfies kyk2 = 1 and f (y) < f (x).

(c) The optimality conditions (6) can be used to derive a simple algorithm for (5). Using the
P
eigenvalue decomposition A = ni=1 i qi qiT , of A, we make a change of variables yi = qiT x,
and write (5) as
Pn
Pn
2
minimize
i=1 i yi
i=1 i yi + 2
subject to y T y 1
where i = qiT b. The transformed optimality conditions (6) are
kyk2 1,

n ,

(i + )yi = i ,

i = 1, . . . , n,

(1 kyk2 ) = 0,

if we assume that 1 2 n . Give an algorithm for computing the solution y and .

4.7 Connection between perturbed optimal cost and Lagrange dual functions. In this exercise we explore
the connection between the optimal cost, as a function of perturbations to the righthand sides of
the constraints,
p (u) = inf{f0 (x) | x D, fi (x) ui , i = 1, . . . , m},
(as in 5.6), and the Lagrange dual function
g() = inf (f0 (x) + 1 f1 (x) + + m fm (x)) ,
x

with domain restricted to  0. We assume the problem is convex. We consider a problem with
inequality constraints only, for simplicity.
We have seen several connections between p and g:
27

 Slaters condition and strong duality. Slaters condition is: there exists u 0 for which
p (u) < . Strong duality (which follows) is: p (0) = sup g(). (Note that we include the
condition  0 in the domain of g.)

A global inequality. We have p (u) p (0) T u, for any u, where maximizes g.

Local sensitivity analysis. If p is differentiable at 0, then we have p (0) = , where

maximizes g.
In fact the two functions are closely related by conjugation. Show that
p (u) = (g) (u).
Here (g) is the conjugate of the function g. You can show this for u int dom p .
Hint. Consider the problem

minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) = fi (x) ui 0,

i = 1, . . . , m.

Verify that Slaters condition holds for this problem, for u int dom p .
4.8 Exact penalty method for SDP. Consider the pair of primal and dual SDPs
(P)

minimize cT x
subject to F (x)  0

(D)

maximize tr(F0 Z)
subject to tr(Fi Z) + ci = 0,
Z  0,

i = 1, . . . , m

where F (x) = F0 + x1 F1 + + xn Fn and Fi Sp for i = 0, . . . , n. Let Z be a solution of (D).

Show that every solution x of the unconstrained problem
minimize cT x + M max{0, max (F (x))},
where M > tr Z , is a solution of (P).
4.9 Quadratic penalty. Consider the problem
minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) 0,

i = 1, . . . , m,

(7)

where the functions fi : Rn R are differentiable and convex.

Show that

(x) = f0 (x) +

m
X

max{0, fi (x)}2 ,

i=1

where > 0, is convex. Suppose x

minimizes . Show how to find from x
a feasible point for the
dual of (7). Find the corresponding lower bound on the optimal value of (7).
4.10 Binary least-squares. We consider the non-convex least-squares approximation problem with binary
constraints
minimize kAx bk22
(8)
subject to x2k = 1, k = 1, . . . , n,
28

where A Rmn and b Rm . We assume that rank(A) = n, i.e., AT A is nonsingular.

One possible application of this problem is as follows. A signal x

{1, 1}n is sent over a noisy
2
channel, and received as b = A
x + v where v N (0, I) is Gaussian noise. The solution of (8) is
the maximum likelihood estimate of the input signal x
, based on the received signal b.
(a) Derive the Lagrange dual of (8) and express it as an SDP.
(b) Derive the dual of the SDP in part (a) and show that it is equivalent to
minimize tr(AT AZ) 2bT Az + bT b
subject to diag(Z)
=
"
# 1
Z z
 0.
zT 1

(9)

Interpret this problem as a relaxation of (8). Show that if

"

Z
rank( T
z

z
)=1
1

(10)

at the optimum of (9), then the relaxation is exact, i.e., the optimal values of problems (8)
and (9) are equal, and the optimal solution z of (9) is optimal for (8). This suggests a heuristic
for rounding the solution of the SDP (9) to a feasible solution of (8), if (10) does not hold.
We compute the eigenvalue decomposition
"

Z
zT

z
1

n+1
X

i=1

"

vi
ti

#"

vi
ti

#T

where vi Rn and ti R, and approximate the matrix by a rank-one matrix

"

Z
zT

z
1

"

v1
t1

#"

v1
t1

#T

(Here we assume the eigenvalues are sorted in decreasing order). Then we take x = sign(v1 )
as our guess of good solution of (8).
(c) We can also give a probabilistic interpretation of the relaxation (9). Suppose we interpret z
and Z as the first and second moments of a random vector v Rn (i.e., z = E v, Z = E vv T ).
Show that (9) is equivalent to the problem
minimize E kAv bk22
subject to E vk2 = 1, k = 1, . . . , n,
where we minimize over all possible probability distributions of v.
This interpretation suggests another heuristic method for computing suboptimal solutions
of (8) based on the result of (9). We choose a distribution with first and second moments
E v = z, E vv T = Z (for example, the Gaussian distribution N (z, Z zz T )). We generate a
number of samples v from the distribution and round them to feasible solutions x = sign(
v ).
We keep the solution with the lowest objective value as our guess of the optimal solution of (8).
29

(d) Solve the dual problem (9) using CVX. Generate problem instances using the Matlab code
randn(state,0)
m = 50;
n = 40;
A = randn(m,n);
xhat = sign(randn(n,1));
b = A*xhat + s*randn(m,1);
for four values of the noise level s: s = 0.5, s = 1, s = 2, s = 3. For each problem instance,
compute suboptimal feasible solutions x using the the following heuristics and compare the
results.
(i) x(a) = sign(xls ) where xls is the solution of the least-squares problem
minimize kAx bk22 .
(ii) x(b) = sign(z) where z is the optimal value of the variable z in the SDP (9).
(iii) x(c) is computed from a rank-one approximation of the optimal solution of (9), as explained
in part (b) above.
(iv) x(d) is computed by rounding 100 samples of N (z, Z zz T ), as explained in part (c) above.
4.11 Monotone transformation of the objective. Consider the optimization problem
minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) 0,

i = 1, . . . , m.

(11)

where fi : Rn R for i = 0, 1, . . . , m are convex. Suppose : R R is increasing and convex.

Then the problem
minimize f0 (x) = (f0 (x))
(12)
subject to fi (x) 0, i = 1, . . . , m
is convex and equivalent to it; in fact, it has the same optimal set as (11).
In this problem we explore the connections between the duals of the two problems (11) and (12).
We assume fi are differentiable, and to make things specific, we take (a) = exp a.
(a) Suppose is feasible for the dual of (11), and x
minimizes
f0 (x) +

m
X

i fi (x).

i=1

Show that x
also minimizes
exp f0 (x) +

m
X

i fi (x)

i=1

Thus,
is dual feasible for (12).
for appropriate choice of .
(b) Let p denote the optimal value of (11) (so the optimal value of (11) is exp p ). From we
obtain the bound
p g(),
30

 we obtain the bound exp p g(),

where g is
where g is the dual function for (11). From
the dual function for (12). This can be expressed as

p log g().
How do these bounds compare? Are they the same, or is one better than the other?
4.12 Variable bounds and dual feasibility. In many problems the constraints include variable bounds, as
in
minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) 0, i = 1, . . . , m
(13)
li xi ui , i = 1, . . . , n.
Let Rn+ be the Lagrange multipliers associated with the constraints xi ui , and let Rn+
be the Lagrange multipliers associated with the constraints li xi . Thus the Lagrangian is
L(x, , , ) = f0 (x) +

m
X
i=1

i fi (x) + T (x u) + T (l x).

(a) Show that for any x R and any , we can choose  0 and  0 so that x minimizes
L(x, , , ). In particular, it is very easy to find dual feasible points.
(b) Construct a dual feasible point (, , ) by applying the method you found in part (a) with
x = (l + u)/2 and = 0. From this dual feasible point you get a lower bound on f . Show
that this lower bound can be expressed as
f f0 ((l + u)/2) ((u l)/2)T |f0 ((l + u)/2)|
where | | means componentwise. Can you prove this bound directly?
4.13 Deducing costs from samples of optimal decision. A system (such as a firm or an organism) chooses
a vector of values x as a solution of the LP
minimize cT x
subject to Ax  b,

with variable x Rn . You can think of x Rn as a vector of activity levels, b Rm as a

vector of requirements, and c Rn as a vector of costs or prices for the activities. With this
interpretation, the LP above finds the cheapest set of activity levels that meet all requirements.
(This interpretation is not needed to solve the problem.)
We suppose that A is known, along with a set of data
(b(1) , x(1) ),

...,

(b(r) , x(r) ),

where x(j) is an optimal point for the LP, with b = b(j) . (The solution of an LP need not be unique;
all we say here is that x(j) is an optimal solution.) Roughly speaking, we have samples of optimal
decisions, for different values of requirements.
You do not know the cost vector c. Your job is to compute the tightest possible bounds on the
and cmin
costs ci from the given data. More specifically, you are to find cmax
i , the maximum and
i
minimum possible values for ci , consistent with the given data.
Note that if x is optimal for the LP for a given c, then it is also optimal if c is scaled by any positive
factor. To normalize c, then, we will assume that c1 = 1. Thus, we can interpret ci as the relative
cost of activity i, compared to activity 1.
31

and cmin
(a) Explain how to find cmax
i . Your method can involve the solution of a reasonable
i
number (not exponential in n, m or r) of convex or quasiconvex optimization problems.
(b) Carry out your method using the data found in deducing_costs_data.m. You may need
to determine whether individual inequality constraints are tight; to do so, use a tolerance
threshold of = 103 . (In other words: if aTk x bk 103 , you can consider this inequality
as tight.)
and cmin
Give the values of cmax
i , and make a very brief comment on the results.
i
4.14 Kantorovich inequality.
(a) Suppose a Rn with a1 a2 an > 0, and b Rn with bk = 1/ak .
Derive the KKT conditions for the convex optimization problem
minimize log(aT x) log(bT x)
subject to x  0, 1T x = 1.
Show that x = (1/2, 0, . . . , 0, 1/2) is optimal.
(b) Suppose A Sn++ with eigenvalues k sorted in decreasing order. Apply the result of part (a),
with ak = k , to prove the Kantorovich inequality:


2 u Au

1/2 

u A

1/2

1
+
n

n
1

for all u with kuk2 = 1.

4.15 State and solve the optimality conditions for the problem
minimize

"
X1
log det

X2
X3

X2T

subject to tr X1 =
tr X2 =
tr X3 = .

#1

The optimization variable is

X=

"

X1
X2T

X2
X3

with X1 Sn , X2 Rnn , X3 Sn . The domain of the objective function is S2n

++ . We assume
> 0, and > 2 .
4.16 Consider the optimization problem
minimize log det X + tr(SX)
subject to X is tridiagonal
with domain Sn++ and variable X Sn . The matrix S Sn is given. Show that the optimal Xopt
satisfies
1
(Xopt
)ij = Sij , |i j| 1.
32

4.17 We denote by f (A) the sum of the largest r eigenvalues of a symmetric matrix A Sn (with
1 r n), i.e.,
f (A) =

r
X

k (A),

k=1

where 1 (A), . . . , n (A) are the eigenvalues of A sorted in decreasing order.

(a) Show that the optimal value of the SDP
maximize tr(AX)
subject to tr X = r
0  X  I,
with variable X Sn , is equal to f (A).

(b) Show that f is a convex function.

(c) Assume A(x) = A0 + x1 A1 + + xm Am , with Ak Sn . Use the observation in part (a) to

formulate the optimization problem
minimize f (A(x)),
with variable x Rm , as an SDP.
4.18 An exact penalty function. Suppose we are given a convex problem

with dual

minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) 0, i = 1, . . . , m

(14)

maximize g()
subject to  0.

(15)

We assume that Slaters condition holds, so we have strong duality and the dual optimum is
attained. For simplicity we will assume that there is a unique dual optimal solution .
For fixed t > 0, consider the unconstrained minimization problem
minimize f0 (x) + t max fi (x)+ ,
i=1,...,m

(16)

where fi (x)+ = max{fi (x), 0}.

(a) Show that the objective function in (16) is convex.
(b) We can express (16) as
minimize f0 (x) + ty
subject to fi (x) y,
0y

i = 1. . . . , m

(17)

where the variables are x and y R.

Find the Lagrange dual problem of (17) and express it in terms of the Lagrange dual function
g for problem (14).
33

(c) Use the result in (b) to prove the following property. If t > 1T , then any minimizer of (16)
is also an optimal solution of (14).
(The second term in (16) is called a penalty function for the constraints in (14). It is zero if x is
feasible, and adds a penalty to the cost function when x is infeasible. The penalty function is called
exact because for t large enough, the solution of the unconstrained problem (16) is also a solution
of (14).)
4.19 Infimal convolution. Let f1 , . . . , fm be convex functions on Rn . Their infimal convolution, denoted
g = f1 fm (several other notations are also used), is defined as
g(x) = inf{f1 (x1 ) + + fm (xm ) | x1 + + xm = x},
with the natural domain (i.e., defined by g(x) < ). In one simple interpretation, fi (xi ) is the cost
for the ith firm to produce a mix of products given by xi ; g(x) is then the optimal cost obtained
if the firms can freely exchange products to produce, all together, the mix given by x. (The name
convolution presumably comes from the observation that if we replace the sum above with the
product, and the infimum above with integration, then we obtain the normal convolution.)
(a) Show that g is convex.
. In other words, the conjugate of the infimal convolution is the
(b) Show that g = f1 + + fm
sum of the conjugates.

(c) Verify the identity in part (b) for the specific case of two strictly convex quadratic functions,
fi (x) = (1/2)xT Pi x, with Pi Sn++ , i = 1, 2.
Hint: Depending on how you work out the conjugates, you might find the matrix identity
(X + Y )1 Y = X 1 (X 1 + Y 1 )1 useful.
4.20 Derive the Lagrange dual of the optimization problem
n
X

minimize

(xi )

i=1

subject to Ax = b
with variable x Rn , where
(u) =

|u|
c
= 1 +
,
c |u|
c |u|

c is a positive parameter. The figure shows for c = 1.

34

dom = (c, c).

5
4.5
4
3.5

(u)

3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
1

0.5

0.5

4.21 Robust LP with polyhedral cost uncertainty. We consider a robust linear programming problem,
with polyhedral uncertainty in the cost:
minimize supcC cT x
subject to Ax  b,
with variable x Rn , where C = {c | F c  g}. You can think of x as the quantities of n products
to buy (or sell, when xi < 0), Ax  b as constraints, requirements, or limits on the available
quantities, and C as giving our knowledge or assumptions about the product prices at the time
we place the order. The objective is then the worst possible (i.e., largest) possible cost, given the
quantities x, consistent with our knowledge of the prices.
In this exercise, you will work out a tractable method for solving this problem. You can assume
that C =
6 , and the inequalities Ax  b are feasible.
(a) Let f (x) = supcC cT x be the objective in the problem above. Explain why f is convex.
(b) Find the dual of the problem
maximize cT x
subject to F c  g,

with variable c. (The problem data are x, F , and g.) Explain why the optimal value of the
dual is f (x).
(c) Use the expression for f (x) found in part (b) in the original problem, to obtain a single LP
equivalent to the original robust LP.
(d) Carry out the method found in part (c) to solve a robust LP with data
rand(seed,0);
A = rand(30,10);
b = rand(30,1);
c_nom = 1+rand(10,1);

% nominal c values

and C described as follows. Each ci deviates no more than 25% from its nominal value, i.e.,
0.75cnom  c  1.25cnom , and the average of c does not deviate more than 10% from the
average of the nominal values, i.e., 0.9(1T cnom )/n 1T c/n 1.1(1T cnom )/n.
35

Compare the worst-case cost f (x) and the nominal cost cTnom x for x optimal for the robust
problem, and for x optimal for the nominal problem (i.e., the case where C = {cnom }). Compare the values and make a brief comment.

36

Approximation and fitting

5.1 Three measures of the spread of a group of numbers. For x Rn , we define three functions that
measure the spread or width of the set of its elements (or coefficients). The first function is the
spread, defined as
sprd (x) = max xi min xi .
i=1,...,n

i=1,...,n

This is the width of the smallest interval that contains all the elements of x.
The second function is the standard deviation, defined as

n
1X
stdev (x) =
x2
n i=1 i

n
1X
xi
n i=1

!2 1/2

This is the statistical standard deviation of a random variable that takes the values x1 , . . . , xn , each
with probability 1/n.
The third function is the average absolute deviation from the median of the values:
aamd (x) = (1/n)

n
X
i=1

|xi med(x)|,

where med(x) denotes the median of the components of x, defined as follows. If n = 2k 1 is

odd, then the median is defined as the value of middle entry when the components are sorted, i.e.,
med(x) = x[k] , the kth largest element among the values x1 , . . . , xn . If n = 2k is even, we define
the median as the average of the two middle values, i.e., med(x) = (x[k] + x[k+1] )/2.
Each of these functions measures the spread of the values of the entries of x; for example, each
function is zero if and only if all components of x are equal, and each function is unaffected if a
constant is added to each component of x.
Which of these three functions is convex? For each one, either show that it is convex, or give a
counterexample showing it is not convex. By a counterexample, we mean a specific x and y such
that Jensens inequality fails, i.e., ((x + y)/2) > ((x) + (y))/2.
5.2 Minimax rational fit to the exponential. (See exercise 6.9 of Convex Optimization.) We consider
the specific problem instance with data
ti = 3 + 6(i 1)/(k 1),

yi = e t i ,

i = 1, . . . , k,

where k = 201. (In other words, the data are obtained by uniformly sampling the exponential
function over the interval [3, 3].) Find a function of the form
f (t) =

a 0 + a 1 t + a 2 t2
1 + b1 t + b2 t 2

that minimizes maxi=1,...,k |f (ti ) yi |. (We require that 1 + b1 ti + b2 t2i > 0 for i = 1, . . . , k.)

Find optimal values of a0 , a1 , a2 , b1 , b2 , and give the optimal objective value, computed to an
accuracy of 0.001. Plot the data and the optimal rational function fit on the same plot. On a
different plot, give the fitting error, i.e., f (ti ) yi .
Hint. You can use strcmp(cvx_status,Solved), after cvx_end, to check if a feasibility problem
is feasible.
37

5.3 Approximation with trigonometric polynomials. Suppose y : R R is a 2-periodic function. We

will approximate y with the trigonometric polynomial
f (t) =

K
X

ak cos(kt) +

K
X

bk sin(kt).

k=1

k=0

We consider two approximations: one that minimizes the L2 -norm of the error, defined as
kf yk2 =

Z

(f (t) y(t)) dt

1/2

and one that minimizes the L1 -norm of the error, defined as

kf yk1 =

|f (t) y(t)| dt.

The L2 approximation is of course given by the (truncated) Fourier expansion of y.

To find an L1 approximation, we discretize t at 2N points,
ti = + i/N,

i = 1, . . . , 2N,

and approximate the L1 norm as

kf yk1 (/N )

2N
X
i=1

|f (ti ) y(ti )|.

(A standard rule of thumb is to take N at least 10 times larger than K.) The L1 approximation (or
really, an approximation of the L1 approximation) can now be found using linear programming.
We consider a specific case, where y is a 2-periodic square-wave, defined for t as
y(t) =

1 |t| /2
0 otherwise.

(The graph of y over a few cycles explains the name square-wave.)

Find the optimal L2 approximation and (discretized) L1 optimal approximation for K = 10. You
can find the L2 optimal approximation analytically, or by solving a least-squares problem associated
with the discretized version of the problem. Since y is even, you can take the sine coefficients in
your approximations to be zero. Show y and the two approximations on a single plot.
In addition, plot a histogram of the residuals (i.e., the numbers f (ti )y(ti )) for the two approximations. Use the same horizontal axis range, so the two residual distributions can easily be compared.
(Matlab command hist might be helpful here.) Make some brief comments about what you see.
5.4 Penalty function approximation. We consider the approximation problem
minimize (Ax b)
where A Rmn and b Rm , the variable is x Rn , and : Rm R is a convex penalty
function that measures the quality of the approximation Ax b. We will consider the following
choices of penalty function:
38

(a) Euclidean norm.

(y) = kyk2 = (

m
X

yk2 )1/2 .

k=1

(b) 1 -norm.
(y) = kyk1 =

m
X

k=1

|yk |.

(c) Sum of the largest m/2 absolute values.

m/2

(y) =

|y|[k]

k=1

where |y|[1] , |y|[2] , |y|[3] , . . . , denote the absolute values of the components of y sorted in
decreasing order.
(d) A piecewise-linear penalty.
(y) =

m
X

|u| 0.2
|u| 0.2 0.2 |u| 0.3
h(u) =

2|u| 0.5 |u| 0.3.

h(yk ),

k=1

(e) Huber penalty.

(y) =

m
X

h(yk ),

h(u) =

k=1

u2
|u| M
M (2|u| M ) |u| M

with M = 0.2.
(f) Log-barrier penalty.
(y) =

m
X

h(yk ),

k=1

h(u) = log(1 u2 ),

dom h = {u | |u| < 1}.

Here is the problem. Generate data A and b as follows:

m
n
A
b
b

=
=
=
=
=

200;
100;
randn(m,n);
randn(m,1);
b/(1.01*max(abs(b)));

(The normalization of b ensures that the domain of (Ax b) is nonempty if we use the log-barrier
penalty.) To compare the results, plot a histogram of the vector of residuals y = Ax b, for each
of the solutions x, using the Matlab command
hist(A*x-b,m/2);
Some additional hints and remarks for the individual problems:
39

(a) This problem can be solved using least-squares (x=A\b).

(b) Use the CVX function norm(y,1).
(c) Use the CVX function norm_largest().
(d) Use CVX, with the overloaded max(), abs(), and sum() functions.
(e) Use the CVX function huber().
(f) The current version of CVX handles the logarithm using an iterative procedure, which is slow
and not entirely reliable. However, you can reformulate this problem as
maximize (

Qm

k=1 ((1

(Ax b)k )(1 + (Ax b)k )))1/2m ,

and use the CVX function geo_mean().

5.5 1.5 optimization. Optimization and approximation methods that use both an 2 -norm (or its
square) and an 1 -norm are currently very popular in statistics, machine learning, and signal and
image processing. Examples include Huber estimation, LASSO, basis pursuit, SVM, various 1 regularized classification methods, total variation de-noising, etc. Very roughly, an 2 -norm corresponds to Euclidean distance (squared), or the negative log-likelihood function for a Gaussian;
in contrast the 1 -norm gives robust approximation, i.e., reduced sensitivity to outliers, and also
tends to yield sparse solutions (of whatever the argument of the norm is). (All of this is just
background; you dont need to know any of this to solve the problem.)
In this problem we study a natural method for blending the two norms, by using the 1.5 -norm,
defined as
kzk1.5 =

k
X
i=1

|zi |

3/2

!2/3

for z Rk . We will consider the simplest approximation or regression problem:

minimize kAx bk1.5 ,
with variable x Rn , and problem data A Rmn and b Rm . We will assume that m > n and
the A is full rank (i.e., rank n). The hope is that this 1.5 -optimal approximation problem should
share some of the good features of 2 and 1 approximation.
(a) Give optimality conditions for this problem. Try to make these as simple as possible.
(b) Explain how to formulate the 1.5 -norm approximation problem as an SDP. (Your SDP can
include linear equality and inequality constraints.)
(c) Solve the specific numerical instance generated by the following code:
randn(state,0);
A=randn(100,30);
b=randn(100,1);
Numerically verify the optimality conditions. Give a histogram of the residuals, and repeat
for the 2 -norm and 1 -norm approximations. You can use any method you like to solve the
problem (but of course you must explain how you did it); in particular, you do not need to
use the SDP formulation found in part (b).
40

5.6 Total variation image interpolation. A grayscale image is represented as an m n matrix of

intensities U orig . You are given the values Uijorig , for (i, j) K, where K {1, . . . , m} {1, . . . , n}.
Your job is to interpolate the image, by guessing the missing values. The reconstructed image
will be represented by U Rmn , where U satisfies the interpolation conditions Uij = Uijorig for
(i, j) K.
The reconstruction is found by minimizing a roughness measure subject to the interpolation conditions. One common roughness measure is the 2 variation (squared),
n 
m X
X
i=2 j=2

(Uij Ui1,j )2 + (Uij Ui,j1 )2 .

Another method minimizes instead the total variation,

n
m X
X

i=2 j=2

(|Uij Ui1,j | + |Uij Ui,j1 |) .

Evidently both methods lead to convex optimization problems.

Carry out 2 and total variation interpolation on the problem instance with data given in tv_img_interp.m.
This will define m, n, and matrices Uorig and Known. The matrix Known is m n, with (i, j) entry
one if (i, j) K, and zero otherwise. The mfile also has skeleton plotting code. (We give you
the entire original image so you can compare your reconstruction to the original; obviously your
solution cannot access Uijorig for (i, j) 6 K.)
5.7 Piecewise-linear fitting. In many applications some function in the model is not given by a formula,
but instead as tabulated data. The tabulated data could come from empirical measurements,
historical data, numerically evaluating some complex expression or solving some problem, for a set
of values of the argument. For use in a convex optimization model, we then have to fit these data
with a convex function that is compatible with the solver or other system that we use. In this
problem we explore a very simple problem of this general type.
Suppose we are given the data (xi , yi ), i = 1, . . . , m, with xi , yi R. We will assume that xi are
sorted, i.e., x1 < x2 < < xm . Let a0 < a1 < a2 < < aK be a set of fixed knot points, with
a0 x1 and aK xm . Explain how to find the convex piecewise linear function f , defined over
[a0 , aK ], with knot points ai , that minimizes the least-squares fitting criterion
m
X
i=1

(f (xi ) yi )2 .

You must explain what the variables are and how they parametrize f , and how you ensure convexity
of f .
Hints. One method to solve this problem is based on the Lagrange basis, f0 , . . . , fK , which are the
piecewise linear functions that satisfy
fj (ai ) = ij ,

i, j = 0, . . . , K.

Another method is based on defining f (x) = i x + i , for x (ai1 , ai ]. You then have to add
conditions on the parameters i and i to ensure that f is continuous and convex.
41

Apply your method to the data in the file pwl_fit_data.m, which contains data with xj [0, 1].
Find the best affine fit (which corresponds to a = (0, 1)), and the best piecewise-linear convex
function fit for 1, 2, and 3 internal knot points, evenly spaced in [0, 1]. (For example, for 3 internal
knot points we have a0 = 0, a1 = 0.25, a2 = 0.50, a3 = 0.75, a4 = 1.) Give the least-squares
fitting cost for each one. Plot the data and the piecewise-linear fits found. Express each function
in the form
f (x) = max (i x + i ).
i=1...,K

(In this form the function is easily incorporated into an optimization problem.)
5.8 Least-squares fitting with convex splines. A cubic spline (or fourth-order spline) with breakpoints
0 , 1 , . . . , M (that satisfy 0 < 1 < < M ) is a piecewise-polynomial function with the
following properties:
the function is a cubic polynomial on each interval [i , i+1 ]

the function values, and the first and second derivatives are continuous on the interval (0 , M ).
The figure shows an example of a cubic spline f (t) with M = 10 segments and breakpoints 0 = 0,
1 = 1, . . . , 10 = 10.
10

f (t)

10
0

10

t
In approximation problems with splines it is convenient to parametrize a spline as a linear combination of basis functions, called B-splines. The precise definition of B-splines is not important for
our purposes; it is sufficient to know that every cubic spline can be written as a linear combination
of M + 3 cubic B-splines gk (t), i.e., in the form
f (t) = x1 g1 (t) + + xM +3 gM +3 (t) = xT g(t),
and that there exist efficient algorithms for computing g(t) = (g1 (t), . . . , gM +3 (t)). The next figure
shows the 13 B-splines for the breakpoints 0, 1, . . . , 10.
42

0.8

gk (t)

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0

10

t
In this exercise we study the problem of fitting a cubic spline to a set of data points, subject to the
constraint that the spline is a convex function. Specifically, the breakpoints 0 , . . . , M are fixed,
and we are given N data points (tk , yk ) with tk [0 , M ]. We are asked to find the convex cubic
spline f (t) that minimizes the least-squares criterion
N
X

(f (tk ) yk )2 .

k=1

We will use B-splines to parametrize f , so the variables in the problem are the coefficients x in
f (t) = xT g(t). The problem can then be written as
minimize
subject to

N 
X

xT g(tk ) yk

k=1
xT g(t)

2

(18)

is convex in t on [0 , M ].

(a) Express problem (18) as a convex optimization problem of the form

minimize kAx bk22
subject to Gx  h.
(b) Use CVX to solve a specific instance of the optimization problem in part (a). As in the figures
above, we take M = 10 and 0 = 0, 1 = 1, . . . , 10 = 10.
Download the Matlab files spline_data.m and bsplines.m. The first m-file is used to generate
the problem data. The command [t, y] = spline_data will generate two vectors t, y of
length N = 51, with the data points tk , yk .
The second function can be used to compute the B-splines, and their first and second derivatives, at any given point u [0, 10]. The command [g, gp, gpp] = bsplines(u) returns
three vectors of length 13 with elements gk (u), gk (u), and gk (u). (The right derivatives are
returned for u = 0, and the left derivatives for u = 10.)
Solve the convex spline fitting problem (18) for this example, and plot the optimal spline.
43

5.9 Robust least-squares with interval coefficient matrix. An interval matrix in Rmn is a matrix whose
entries are intervals:
A = {A Rmn | |Aij Aij | Rij , i = 1, . . . , m, j = 1, . . . , n}.
The matrix A Rmn is called the nominal value or center value, and R Rmn , which is
elementwise nonnegative, is called the radius.
The robust least-squares problem, with interval matrix, is
minimize supAA kAx bk2 ,
with optimization variable x Rn . The problem data are A (i.e., A and R) and b Rm . The
objective, as a function of x, is called the worst-case residual norm. The robust least-squares
problem is evidently a convex optimization problem.
(a) Formulate the interval matrix robust least-squares problem as a standard optimization problem, e.g., a QP, SOCP, or SDP. You can introduce new variables if needed. Your reformulation
should have a number of variables and constraints that grows linearly with m and n, and not
exponentially.
(b) Consider the specific problem instance with m = 4, n = 3,

A=

60 0.05 45 0.05 8 0.05

90 0.05 30 0.05 30 0.05
0 0.05 8 0.05 4 0.05
30 0.05 10 0.05 10 0.05

b=

6
3
18
9

(The first part of each entry in A gives Aij ; the second gives Rij , which are all 0.05 here.) Find
bk2 ), and robust least-squares
the solution xls of the nominal problem (i.e., minimize kAx
solution xrls . For each of these, find the nominal residual norm, and also the worst-case residual
norm. Make sure the results make sense.
5.10 Identifying a sparse linear dynamical system. A linear dynamical system has the form
x(t + 1) = Ax(t) + Bu(t) + w(t),

t = 1, . . . , T 1,

where x(t) Rn is the state, u(t) Rm is the input signal, and w(t) Rn is the process noise,
at time t. We assume the process noises are IID N (0, W ), where W 0 is the covariance matrix.
The matrix A Rnn is called the dynamics matrix or the state transition matrix, and the matrix
B Rnm is called the input matrix.

You are given accurate measurements of the state and input signal, i.e., x(1), . . . , x(T ), u(1), . . . , u(T
from these
1), and W is known. Your job is to find a state transition matrix A and input matrix B
data, that are plausible, and in addition are sparse, i.e., have many zero entries. (The sparser the
better.)
By doing this, you are effectively estimating the structure of the dynamical system, i.e., you are
determining which components of x(t) and u(t) affect which components of x(t + 1). In some
applications, this structure might be more interesting than the actual values of the (nonzero)

coefficients in A and B.
44

By plausible, we mean that

TX
1
t=1

q

 2
1/2

x(t + 1) Ax(t)
Bu(t)
W
n(T 1) + 2 2n(T 1).
2

(You can just take this as our definition of plausible. But to explain this choice, we note that when
= B, the left-hand side is 2 , with n(T 1) degrees of freedom, and so has mean
A = A and B
p
n(T 1) and standard deviation 2n(T 1). Thus, the constraint above states that the LHS does
not exceed the mean by more than 2 standard deviations.)
based on convex optimization.
(a) Describe a method for finding A and B,
We are looking for a very simple method, that involves solving one convex optimization
problem. (There are many extensions of this basic method, that would improve the simple
that are still plausible. Were not asking you to describe
method, i.e., yield sparser A and B
or implement any of these.)
(b) Carry out your method on the data found in sparse_lds_data.m. Give the values of A and
that you find, and verify that they are plausible.
B
In the data file, we give you the true values of A and B, so you can evaluate the performance
of your method. (Needless to say, you are not allowed to use these values when forming A and
Using these true values, give the number of false positives and false negatives in both A
B.)
A false positive in A,
for example, is an entry that is nonzero, while the corresponding
and B.
entry in A is zero. A false negative is an entry of A that is zero, while the corresponding
is nonzero, you can use the test
entry of A is nonzero. To judge whether an entry of A (or B)

|Aij | 0.01 (or |Bij | 0.01).

5.11 Measurement with bounded errors. A series of K measurements y1 , . . . , yK Rp , are taken in order
to estimate an unknown vector x Rq . The measurements are related to the unknown vector x by
yi = Ax + vi , where vi is a measurement noise that satisfies kvi k but is otherwise unknown.
(In other words, the entries of v1 , . . . , vK are no larger than .) The matrix A and the measurement
noise norm bound are known. Let X denote the set of vectors x that are consistent with the
observations y1 , . . . , yK , i.e., the set of x that could have resulted in the measurements made. Is X
convex?
Now we will examine what happens when the measurements are occasionally in error, i.e., for a few
i we have no relation between x and yi . More precisely suppose that Ifault is a subset of {1, . . . , K},
and that yi = Ax + vi with kvi k (as above) for i 6 Ifault , but for i Ifault , there is no relation
between x and yi . The set Ifault is the set of times of the faulty measurements.
Suppose you know that Ifault has at most J elements, i.e., out of K measurements, at most J are
faulty. You do not know Ifault ; you know only a bound on its cardinality (size). For what values of
J is X, the set of x consistent with the measurements, convex?
5.12 Least-squares with some permuted measurements. We want to estimate a vector x Rn , given
some linear measurements of x corrupted with Gaussian noise. Heres the catch: some of the
measurements have been permuted.
More precisely, our measurement vector y Rm has the form
y = P (Ax + v),
45

where vi are IID N (0, 1) measurement noises, x Rn is the vector of parameters we wish to
estimate, and P Rmm is a permutation matrix. (This means that each row and column of P
has exactly one entry equal to one, and the remaining m 1 entries zero.) We assume that m > n
and that at most k of the measurements are permuted; i.e., P ei 6= ei for no more than k indices i.
We are interested in the case when k < m (e.g. k = 0.4m); that is, only some of the measurements
have been permuted. We want to estimate x and P .
Once we make a guess P for P , we can get the maximum likelihood estimate of x by minimizing
kAx P T yk2 . The residual A
x P T y is then our guess of what P T v is, and should be consistent
with being a sample of a N (0, I) vector.
In principle, we can find the maximum likelihood estimate of x and P by solving a set of m
k (k! 1)
least-squares problems, and choosing one that has minimum residual. But this is not practical unless
m and k are both very small.

Describe a heuristic method for approximately solving this problem, using convex optimization.
(There are many different approaches which work quite well.)
You might find the following fact useful. The solution to
minimize kAx P T yk
over P Rmm a permutation matrix, is the permutation that matches the smallest entry in y
with the smallest entry in Ax, does the same for the second smallest entries and so forth.
Carry out your method on the data in ls_perm_meas_data.m. Give your estimate of the permuted
indices. The data file includes the true permutation matrix and value of x (which of course you
cannot use in forming your estimate). Compare the estimate of x you get after your guessed
permutation with the estimate obtained assuming P = I.
Remark. This problem comes up in several applications. In target tracking, we get multiple noisy
measurements of a set of targets, and then guess which targets are the same in the different sets of
measurements. If some of our guesses are wrong (i.e., our target association is wrong) we have the
present problem. In vision systems the problem arises when we have multiple camera views of a
scene, which give us noisy measurements of a set of features. A feature correspondence algorithm
guesses which features in one view correspond to features in other views. If we make some feature
correspondence errors, we have the present problem.
5.13 Fitting with censored data. In some experiments there are two kinds of measurements or data
available: The usual ones, in which you get a number (say), and censored data, in which you dont
get the specific number, but are told something about it, such as a lower bound. A classic example
is a study of lifetimes of a set of subjects (say, laboratory mice). For those who have died by the end
of data collection, we get the lifetime. For those who have not died by the end of data collection,
we do not have the lifetime, but we do have a lower bound, i.e., the length of the study. These are
the censored data values.
We wish to fit a set of data points,
(x(1) , y (1) ), . . . , (x(K) , y (K) ),
with x(k) Rn and y (k) R, with a linear model of the form y cT x. The vector c Rn is the
model parameter, which we want to choose. We will use a least-squares criterion, i.e., choose c to
46

minimize
J=

K 
X

k=1

y (k) cT x(k)

2

Here is the tricky part: some of the values of y (k) are censored; for these entries, we have only a
(given) lower bound. We will re-order the data so that y (1) , . . . , y (M ) are given (i.e., uncensored),
while y (M +1) , . . . , y (K) are all censored, i.e., unknown, but larger than D, a given number. All the
values of x(k) are known.
(a) Explain how to find c (the model parameter) and y (M +1) , . . . , y (K) (the censored data values)
that minimize J.
(b) Carry out the method of part (a) on the data values in cens_fit_data.m. Report c, the value
of c found using this method.
Also find cls , the least-squares estimate of c obtained by simply ignoring the censored data
samples, i.e., the least-squares estimate based on the data
(x(1) , y (1) ), . . . , (x(M ) , y (M ) ).
The data file contains ctrue , the true value of c, in the vector c_true. Use this to give the two
relative errors
kctrue ck2
kctrue cls k2
,
.
kctrue k2
kctrue k2
5.14 Spectrum analysis with quantized measurements. A sample is made up of n compounds, in quantities
qi 0, for i = 1, . . . , n. Each compound has a (nonnegative) spectrum, which we represent as a
vector s(i) Rm
n. (Precisely what s(i) means wont matter to us.) The spectrum
+ , for i = 1, . . . ,P
of the sample is given by s = ni=1 qi s(i) . We can write this more compactly as s = Sq, where
S Rmn is a matrix whose columns are s(1) , . . . , s(n) .

Measurement of the spectrum of the sample gives us an interval for each spectrum value, i.e.,
l, u Rm
+ for which
li si ui , i = 1, . . . , m.

(We dont directly get s.) This occurs, for example, if our measurements are quantized.
Given l and u (and S), we cannot in general deduce q exactly. Instead, we ask you to do the
following. For each compound i, find the range of possible values for qi consistent with the spectrum
measurements. We will denote these ranges as qi [qimin , qimax ]. Your job is to find qimin and qimax .
Note that if qimin is large, we can confidently conclude that there is a significant amount of compound
i in the sample. If qimax is small, we can confidently conclude that there is not much of compound
i in the sample.
(a) Explain how to find qimin and qimax , given S, l, and u.
(b) Carry out the method of part (a) for the problem instance given in spectrum_data.m. (Executing this file defines the problem data, and plots the compound spectra and measurement
bounds.) Plot the minimum and maximum values versus i, using the commented out code in
the data file. Report your values for q4min and q4max .

47

5.15 Learning a quadratic pseudo-metric from distance measurements. We are given a set of N pairs of
points in Rn , x1 , . . . , xN , and y1 , . . . , yN , together with a set of distances d1 , . . . , dN > 0.
The goal is to find (or estimate or learn) a quadratic pseudo-metric d,


d(x, y) = (x y)T P (x y)

1/2

with P Sn+ , which approximates the given distances, i.e., d(xi , yi ) di . (The pseudo-metric d is
a metric only when P 0; when P  0 is singular, it is a pseudo-metric.)
To do this, we will choose P Sn+ that minimizes the mean squared error objective
N
1 X
(di d(xi , yi ))2 .
N i=1

(a) Explain how to find P using convex or quasiconvex optimization. If you cannot find an exact
formulation (i.e., one that is guaranteed to minimize the total squared error objective), give
a formulation that approximately minimizes the given objective, subject to the constraints.
(b) Carry out the method of part (a) with the data given in quad_metric_data.m. The columns
of the matrices X and Y are the points xi and yi ; the row vector d gives the distances di . Give
the optimal mean squared distance error.
We also provide a test set, with data X_test, Y_test, and d_test. Report the mean squared
distance error on the test set (using the metric found using the data set above).

48

Statistical estimation

6.1 Maximum likelihood estimation of x and noise mean and covariance. Consider the maximum
likelihood estimation problem with the linear measurement model
yi = aTi x + vi ,

i = 1, . . . , m.

The vector x Rn is a vector of unknown parameters, yi are the measurement values, and vi are
independent and identically distributed measurement errors.
In this problem we make the assumption that the normalized probability density function of the
errors is given (normalized to have zero mean and unit variance), but not their mean and variance.
In other words, the density of the measurement errors vi is
p(z) =

1 z
f(
),

where f is a given, normalized density. The parameters and are the mean and standard
deviation of the distribution p, and are not known.
The maximum likelihood estimates of x, , are the maximizers of the log-likelihood function
m
X
i=1

log p(yi

aTi x)

= m log +

m
X

log f (

i=1

yi aTi x
),

where y is the observed value. Show that if f is log-concave, then the maximum likelihood estimates
of x, , can be determined by solving a convex optimization problem.
6.2 Mean and covariance estimation with conditional independence constraints. Let X Rn be a
Gaussian random variable with density
p(x) =

1
(2)n/2 (det S)1/2

exp((x a)T S 1 (x a)/2).

The conditional density of a subvector (Xi , Xj ) R2 of X, given the remaining variables, is also
Gaussian, and its covariance matrix Rij is equal to the Schur complement of the 2 2 submatrix
"

Sii
Sij

Sij
Sjj

in the covariance matrix S. The variables Xi , Xj are called conditionally independent if the
covariance matrix Rij of their conditional distribution is diagonal.
Formulate the following problem as a convex optimization problem. We are given N independent
samples y1 , . . . , yN Rn of X. We are also given a list N {1, . . . , n} {1, . . . , n} of pairs of
conditionally independent variables: (i, j) N means Xi and Xj are conditionally independent.
The problem is to compute the maximum likelihood estimate of the mean a and the covariance
matrix S, subject to the constraint that Xi and Xj are conditionally independent for (i, j) N .
6.3 Maximum likelihood estimation for exponential family. A probability distribution or density on a
set D, parametrized by Rn , is called an exponential family if it has the form
p (x) = a() exp(T c(x)),
49

for x D, where c : D Rn , and a() is a normalizing function. Here we intepret p (x) as a

density function when D is a continuous set, and a probability distribution when D is discrete.
Thus we have
Z
1
a() =
exp(T c(x)) dx
D

when p is a density, and

a() =

exp( c(x))

xD

!1

when p represents a distribution. We consider only values of for which the integral or sum above
is finite. Many families of distributions have this form, for appropriate choice of the parameter
and function c.
(a) When c(x) = x and D = Rn+ , what is the associated family of densities? What is the set of
valid values of ?
(b) Consider the case with D = {0, 1}, with c(0) = 0, c(1) = 1. What is the associated exponential
family of distributions? What are the valid values of the parameter R?

(c) Explain how to represent the normal family N (, ) as an exponential family. Hint. Use parameter (z, Y ) = (1 , 1 ). With this parameter, T c(x) has the form z T c1 (x)+tr Y C2 (x),
where C2 (x) Sn .

(d) Log-likelihood function. Show that for any x D, the log-likelihood function log p (x) is
concave in . This means that maximum-likelihood estimation for an exponential family leads
to a convex optimization problem. You dont have to give a formal proof of concavity of
log p (x) in the general case: You can just consider the case when D is finite, and state that
the other cases (discrete but infinite D, continuous D) can be handled by taking limits of finite
sums.
(e) Optimality condition for ML estimation. Let (x1 , . . . , xK ) be the log-likelihood function for
K IID samples, x1 , . . . , xk , from the distribution or density p . Assuming log p is differentiable
in , show that
K
1 X
(1/K) (x1 , . . . , xK ) =
c(xi ) E c(x).

K i=1

(The subscript under E means the expectation under the distribution or density p .)
Intepretation. The ML estimate of is characterized by the empirical mean of c(x) being
equal to the expected value of c(x), under the density or distribution p . (We assume here
that the maximizer of is characterized by the gradient vanishing.)

6.4 Maximum likelihood prediction of team ability. A set of n teams compete in a tournament. We
model each teams ability by a number aj [0, 1], j = 1, . . . , n. When teams j and k play each
other, the probability that team j wins is equal to prob(aj ak + v > 0), where v N (0, 2 ).
You are given the outcome of m past games. These are organized as
(j (i) , k (i) , y (i) ),

i = 1, . . . , m,

meaning that game i was played between teams j (i) and k (i) ; y (i) = 1 means that team j (i) won,
while y (i) = 1 means that team k (i) won. (We assume there are no ties.)
50

(a) Formulate the problem of finding the maximum likelihood estimate of team abilities, a
Rn ,
given the outcomes, as a convex optimization problem. You will find the game incidence
matrix A Rmn , defined as

y (i) l = j (i)
Ail =
y (i) l = k (i)

0 otherwise,

useful.
The prior constraints a
i [0, 1] should be included in the problem formulation. Also, we
note that if a constant is added to all team abilities, there is no change in the probabilities of
game outcomes. This means that a
is determined only up to a constant, like a potential. But
this doesnt affect the ML estimation problem, or any subsequent predictions made using the
estimated parameters.
(b) Find a
for the team data given in team_data.m, in the matrix train. (This matrix gives the
outcomes for a tournament in which each team plays each other team once.) You may find
the CVX function log_normcdf helpful for this problem.
You can form A using the commands
A = sparse(1:m,train(:,1),train(:,3),m,n) + ...
sparse(1:m,train(:,2),-train(:,3),m,n);
(c) Use the maximum likelihood estimate a
found in part (b) to predict the outcomes of next
k(i) ). Compare
years tournament games, given in the matrix test, using y(i) = sign(
aj (i) a
these predictions with the actual outcomes, given in the third column of test. Give the
fraction of correctly predicted outcomes.
The games played in train and test are the same, so another, simpler method for predicting
the outcomes in test it to just assume the team that won last years match will also win this
years match. Give the percentage of correctly predicted outcomes using this simple method.
6.5 Estimating a vector with unknown measurement nonlinearity. (A specific instance of exercise 7.9
in Convex Optimization.) We want to estimate a vector x Rn , given some measurements
yi = (aTi x + vi ),

i = 1, . . . , m.

Here ai Rn are known, vi are IID N (0, 2 ) random noises, and : R R is an unknown
monotonic increasing function, known to satisfy
(u) ,
for all u. (Here and are known positive constants, with < .) We want to find a maximum
likelihood estimate of x and , given yi . (We also know ai , , , and .)
This sounds like an infinite-dimensional problem, since one of the parameters we are estimating is a
function. In fact, we only need to know the m numbers zi = 1 (yi ), i = 1, . . . , m. So by estimating
we really mean estimating the m numbers z1 , . . . , zm . (These numbers are not arbitrary; they
must be consistent with the prior information (u) for all u.)
51

(a) Explain how to find a maximum likelihood estimate of x and (i.e., z1 , . . . , zm ) using convex
optimization.
(b) Carry out your method on the data given in nonlin_meas_data.m, which includes a matrix
ml , the maximum likelihood estimate of x. Plot your
A Rmn , with rows aT1 , . . . , aTm . Give x

estimated function ml . (You can do this by plotting (

zml )i versus yi , with yi on the vertical
axis and (
zml )i on the horizontal axis.)
Hint. You can assume the measurements are numbered so that yi are sorted in nondecreasing order,
i.e., y1 y2 ym . (The data given in the problem instance for part (b) is given in this
order.)
6.6 Maximum likelihood estimation of an increasing nonnegative signal. We wish to estimate a scalar
signal x(t), for t = 1, 2, . . . , N , which is known to be nonnegative and monotonically nondecreasing:
0 x(1) x(2) x(N ).
This occurs in many practical problems. For example, x(t) might be a measure of wear or deterioration, that can only get worse, or stay the same, as time t increases. We are also given that
x(t) = 0 for t 0.
We are given a noise-corrupted moving average of x, given by
y(t) =

k
X

=1

h( )x(t ) + v(t),

t = 2, . . . , N + 1,

where v(t) are independent N (0, 1) random variables.

(a) Show how to formulate the problem of finding the maximum likelihood estimate of x, given
y, taking into account the prior assumption that x is nonnegative and monotonically nondecreasing, as a convex optimization problem. Be sure to indicate what the problem variables
are, and what the problem data are.
(b) We now consider a specific instance of the problem, with problem data (i.e., N , k, h, and y)
given in the file ml_estim_incr_signal_data.m. (This file contains the true signal xtrue,
which of course you cannot use in creating your estimate.) Find the maximum likelihood
estimate x
ml , and plot it, along with the true signal. Also find and plot the maximum likelihood
estimate x
ml,free not taking into account the signal nonnegativity and monotonicity.
Hint. The function conv (convolution) is overloaded to work with CVX.
6.7 Relaxed and discrete A-optimal experiment design. This problem concerns the A-optimal experiment design problem, described on page 387, with data generated as follows.
n = 5; % dimension of parameters to be estimated
p = 20; % number of available types of measurements
m = 30; % total number of measurements to be carried out
randn(state, 0);
V=randn(n,p); % columns are vi, the possible measurement vectors

52

Solve the relaxed A-optimal experiment design problem,

minimize (1/m) tr
subject to 1T = 1,

P

1
p
T

v
v
i=1 i i i

 0,

with variable Rp . Find the optimal point and the associated optimal value of the relaxed
problem. This optimal value is a lower bound on the optimal value of the discrete A-optimal
experiment design problem,
1

P

p
T
minimize tr
i=1 mi vi vi
subject to m1 + + mp = m,

mi {0, . . . , m},

i = 1, . . . , p,

with variables m1 , . . . , mp . To get a suboptimal point for this discrete problem, round the entries
in m to obtain integers m
i . If needed, adjust these by hand or some other method to ensure that
they sum to m, and compute the objective value obtained. This is, of course, an upper bound on
the optimal value of the discrete problem. Give the gap between this upper bound and the lower
bound obtained from the relaxed problem. Note that the two objective values can be interpreted
as mean-square estimation error E k
x xk22 .
6.8 Optimal detector design. We adopt here the notation of 7.3 of the book. Explain how to design a
(possibly randomized) detector that minimizes the worst-case probability of our estimate being off
by more than one,
Pwc = max prob(| | 2).

(The probability above is under the distribution associated with .)

Carry out your method for the problem instance with data in off_by_one_det_data.m. Give the
with the
optimal detection probability matrix D. Compare the optimal worst-case probability Pwc
ml obtained using a maximum-likelihood detector.
worst-case probability Pwc
6.9 Experiment design with condition number objective. Explain how to solve the experiment design
problem (7.5) with the condition number cond(E) of E (the error covariance matrix) as the
objective to be minimized.
6.10 Worst-case probability of loss. Two investments are made, with random returns R1 and R2 . The
total return for the two investments is R1 + R2 , and the probability of a loss (including breaking
even, i.e., R1 + R2 = 0) is ploss = prob(R1 + R2 0). The goal is to find the worst-case (i.e.,
maximum possible) value of ploss , consistent with the following information. Both R1 and R2 have
Gaussian marginal distributions, with known means 1 and 2 and known standard deviations 1
and 2 . In addition, it is known that R1 and R2 are correlated with correlation coefficient , i.e.,
E(R1 1 )(R2 2 ) = 1 2 .
Your job is to find the worst-case ploss over any joint distribution of R1 and R2 consistent with the
given marginals and correlation coefficient.
We will consider the specific case with data
1 = 8,

2 = 20,

1 = 6,
53

2 = 17.5,

= 0.25.

We can compare the results to the case when R1 and R2 are jointly Gaussian. In this case we have
R1 + R2 N (1 + 2 , 12 + 22 + 21 2 ),
which for the data given above gives ploss = 0.050. Your job is to see how much larger ploss can
possibly be.
This is an infinite-dimensional optimization problem, since you must maximize ploss over an infinitedimensional set of joint distributions. To (approximately) solve it, we discretize the values that R1
and R2 can take on, to n = 100 values r1 , . . . , rn , uniformly spaced from r1 = 30 to rn = +70.
We use the discretized marginals p(1) and p(2) for R1 and R2 , given by
(k)
pi

for k = 1, 2, i = 1, . . . , n.

exp (ri k )2 /(2k2 )

= prob(Rk = ri ) = Pn
2 ,
2
j=1 exp (rj k ) /(2k )

Formulate the (discretized) problem as a convex optimization problem, and solve it. Report the
maximum value of ploss you find. Plot the joint distribution that yields the maximum value of ploss
using the Matlab commands mesh and contour.
Remark. You might be surprised at both the maximum value of ploss , and the joint distribution
that achieves it.
6.11 Minimax linear fitting. Consider a linear measurement model y = Ax + v, where x Rn is a
vector of parameters to be estimated, y Rm is a vector of measurements, v Rm is a set of
measurement errors, and A Rmn with rank n, with m n. We know y and A, but we dont
know v; our goal is to estimate x. We make only one assumption about the measurement error v:
kvk .
We will estimate x using a linear estimator x
= By; we must choose the estimation matrix B
Rnm . The estimation error is e = x
x. We will choose B to minimize the maximum possible
value of kek , where the maximum is over all values of x and all values of v satisfying kvk .
(a) Show how to find B via convex optimization.
(b) Numerical example. Solve the problem instance given in minimax_fit_data.m. Display the
x
you obtain and report k
x xtrue k . Here xtrue is the value of x used to generate the
measurement y; it is given in the data file.
6.12 Cox proportional hazards model. Let T be a continuous random variable taking on values in R+ .
We can think of T as modeling an event that takes place at some unknown future time, such as
the death of a living person or a machine failure.
The survival function is S(t) = prob(T t), which satisfies S(0) = 1, S (t) 0, and limt S(t) =
0. The hazard rate is given by (t) = S (t)/S(t) R+ , and has the following interpretation: For
small > 0, (t) is approximately the probability of the event occurring in [t, t + ], given that it
has not occurred up to time t. The survival function can be expressed in terms of the hazard rate:


S(t) = exp

54

( ) d .
0

(The hazard rate must have infinite integral over [0, ).)

The Cox proportional hazards model gives the hazard rate as a function of some features or explanatory variables (assumed constant in time) x Rn . In particular, is given by
(t) = 0 (t) exp(wT x),
where 0 (which is nonnegative, with infinite integral) is called the baseline hazard rate, and w Rn
is a vector of model parameters. (The name derives from the fact that (t) is proportional to
exp(wi xi ), for each i.)
Now suppose that we have observed a set of independent samples, with event times tj and feature
values xj , for j = 1, . . . , N . In other words, we observe that the event with features xj occurred at
time tj . You can assume that the baseline hazard rate 0 is known. Show that maximum likelihood
estimation of the parameter w is a convex optimization problem.
Remarks. Regularization is typically included in Cox proportional hazards fitting; for example,
adding 1 regularization yields a sparse model, which selects the features to be used. The basic
Cox proportional hazards model described here is readily extended to include discrete times of the
event, censored measurements (which means that we only observe T to be in an interval), and the
effects of features that can vary with time.

55

Geometry

7.1 Efficiency of maximum volume inscribed ellipsoid. In this problem we prove the following geometrical result. Suppose C is a polyhedron in Rn , symmetric about the origin, and described
as
C = {x | 1 aTi x 1, i = 1, . . . , p}.
Let

E = {x | xT Q1 x 1},

with Q Sn++ , be the maximum volume ellipsoid with center at the origin, inscribed in C. Then
the ellipsoid

nE = {x | xT Q1 x n}

(i.e., the ellipsoid E, scaled by a factor n about the origin) contains C.

(a) Show that the condition E C is equivalent to aTi Qai 1 for i = 1, . . . , p.
(b) The volume of E is proportional to (det Q)1/2 , so we can find the maximum volume ellipsoid
E inside C by solving the convex problem
minimize log det Q1
subject to aTi Qai 1,

i = 1. . . . , p.

(19)

The variable is the matrix Q Sn and the domain of the objective function is Sn++ .
Derive the Lagrange dual of problem (19).
(c) Note that Slaters condition for (19) holds (aTi Qai < 1 for Q = I and > 0 small enough),
so we have strong duality, and the KKT conditions are necessary and sufficient for optimality.
What are the KKT conditions for (19)?
Suppose Q is optimal. Use the KKT conditions to show that

In other words C

xC

xT Q1 x n.

nE, which is the desired result.

7.2 Euclidean distance matrices. A matrix X Sn is a Euclidean distance matrix if its elements xij
can be expressed as
xij = kpi pj k22 , i, j = 1, . . . , n,

for some vectors p1 , . . . , pn (of arbitrary dimension). In this exercise we prove several classical
characterizations of Euclidean distance matrices, derived by I. Schoenberg in the 1930s.
(a) Show that X is a Euclidean distance matrix if and only if
X = diag(Y )1T + 1 diag(Y )T 2Y

(20)

for some matrix Y Sn+ (the symmetric positive semidefinite matrices of order n). Here,
diag(Y ) is the n-vector formed from the diagonal elements of Y , and 1 is the n-vector with
all its elements equal to one. The equality (20) is therefore equivalent to
xij = yii + yjj 2yij ,

i, j = 1, . . . , n.

Hint. Y is the Gram matrix associated with the vectors p1 , . . . , pn , i.e., the matrix with
elements yij = pTi pj .
56

(b) Show that the set of Euclidean distance matrices is a convex cone.
(c) Show that X is a Euclidean distance matrix if and only if
T
X22 X21 1T 1X21
 0.

diag(X) = 0,

(21)

The subscripts refer to the partitioning

X=

"

T
x11 X21
X21 X22

with X21 Rn1 , and X22 Sn1 .

Hint. The definition of Euclidean distance matrix involves only the distances kpi pj k2 , so
the origin can be chosen arbitrarily. For example, it can be assumed without loss of generality
that p1 = 0. With this assumption there is a unique Gram matrix Y for a given Euclidean
distance matrix X. Find Y from (20), and relate it to the lefthand side of the inequality (21).
(d) Show that X is a Euclidean distance matrix if and only if
diag(X) = 0,

(I

1 T
1
11 )X(I 11T )  0.
n
n

(22)

Hint. Use the same argument as in part (c), but take the mean of the vectors pk at the origin,
i.e., impose the condition that p1 + p2 + + pn = 0.
(e) Suppose X is a Euclidean distance matrix. Show that the matrix W Sn with elements
wij = exij ,

i, j = 1, . . . , n,

is positive semidefinite.
Hint. Use the following identity from probability theory. Define z N (0, I). Then
E eiz

Tx

= e 2 kxk2

for all x, where i = 1 and E denotes expectation with respect to z. (This is the characteristic function of a multivariate normal distribution.)
7.3 Minimum total covering ball volume. We consider a collection of n points with locations x1 , . . . , xn
Rk . We are also given a set of m groups or subsets of these points, G1 , . . . , Gm {1, . . . , n}. For
each group, let Vi be the volume of the smallest Euclidean ball that contains the points in group
Gi . (The volume of a Euclidean ball of radius r in Rk is ak rk , where ak is known constant that
is positive but otherwise irrelevant here.) We let V = V1 + + Vm be the total volume of these
minimal covering balls.
The points xk+1 , . . . , xn are fixed (i.e., they are problem data). The variables to be chosen are
x1 , . . . , xk . Formulate the problem of choosing x1 , . . . , xk , in order to minimize the total minimal
covering ball volume V , as a convex optimization problem. Be sure to explain any new variables
you introduce, and to justify the convexity of your objective and inequality constraint functions.
7.4 Maximum-margin multiclass classification. In an m-category pattern classification problem, we are
given m sets Ci Rn . Set Ci contains Ni examples of feature vectors in class i. The learning
problem is to find a decision function f : Rn {1, 2, . . . , m} that maps each training example to
its class, and also generalizes reliably to feature vectors that are not included in the training sets
Ci .
57

(a) A common type of decision function for two-way classification is

f (x) =

1 if aT x + b > 0
2 if aT x + b < 0.

In the simplest form, finding f is equivalent to solving a feasibility problem: find a and b such
that
aT x + b > 0 if x C1
aT x + b < 0 if x C2 .

Since these strict inequalities are homogeneous in a and b, they are feasible if and only if the
nonstrict inequalities
aT x + b 1 if x C1
aT x + b 1 if x C2

are feasible. This is a feasibility problem with N1 + N2 linear inequalities in n + 1 variables a,

b.
As an extension that improves the robustness (i.e., generalization capability) of the classifier,
we can impose the condition that the decision function f classifies all points in a neighborhood
of C1 and C2 correctly, and we can maximize the size of the neighborhood. This problem can
be expressed as
maximize t
subject to aT x + b > 0 if dist(x, C1 ) t,
aT x + b < 0 if dist(x, C2 ) t,

where dist(x, C) = minyC kx yk2 .

This is illustrated in the figure. The centers of the shaded disks form the set C1 . The centers
of the other disks form the set C2 . The set of points at a distance less than t from Ci is the
union of disks with radius t and center in Ci . The hyperplane in the figure separates the two
expanded sets. We are interested in expanding the circles as much as possible, until the two
expanded sets are no longer separable by a hyperplane.
aT x + b < 0

aT x + b > 0

Since the constraints are homogeneous in a, b, we can again replace them with nonstrict
inequalities
maximize t
subject to aT x + b 1 if dist(x, C1 ) t,
(23)
aT x + b 1 if dist(x, C2 ) t.
58

The variables are a, b, and t.

(b) Next we consider an extension to more than two classes. If m > 2 we can use a decision
function
f (x) = argmax (aTi x + bi ),
i=1,...,m

parameterized by m vectors ai R and m scalars bi . To find f , we can solve a feasibility

problem: find ai , bi , such that
aTi x + bi > max (aTj x + bj )
j6=i

if x Ci ,

i = 1, . . . , m,

or, equivalently,
aTi x + bi 1 + max (aTj x + bj )
j6=i

if x Ci ,

i = 1, . . . , m.

Similarly as in part (a), we consider a robust version of this problem:

maximize t
subject to aTi x + bi 1 + maxj6=i (aTj x + bj ) if dist(x, Ci ) t,
i = 1, . . . , m.

(24)

The variables in the problem are ai Rn , bi R, i = 1, . . . , m, and t.

Formulate the optimization problems (23) and (24) as SOCPs (if possible), or as quasiconvex
optimization problems involving SOCP feasibility problems (otherwise).
7.5 Three-way linear classification. We are given data
x(1) , . . . , x(N ) ,

y (1) , . . . , y (M ) ,

z (1) , . . . , z (P ) ,

three nonempty sets of vectors in Rn . We wish to find three affine functions on Rn ,

fi (z) = aTi z bi ,

i = 1, 2, 3,

that satisfy the following properties:

f1 (x(j) ) > max{f2 (x(j) ), f3 (x(j) )}, j = 1, . . . , N,
f2 (y (j) ) > max{f1 (y (j) ), f3 (y (j) )}, j = 1, . . . , M,
f3 (z (j) ) > max{f1 (z (j) ), f2 (z (j) )}, j = 1, . . . , P.
In words: f1 is the largest of the three functions on the x data points, f2 is the largest of the three
functions on the y data points, f3 is the largest of the three functions on the z data points. We
can give a simple geometric interpretation: The functions f1 , f2 , and f3 partition Rn into three
regions,
R1 = {z | f1 (z) > max{f2 (z), f3 (z)}},

R2 = {z | f2 (z) > max{f1 (z), f3 (z)}},

R3 = {z | f3 (z) > max{f1 (z), f2 (z)}},

59

defined by where each function is the largest of the three. Our goal is to find functions with
x(j) R1 , y (j) R2 , and z (j) R3 .
Pose this as a convex optimization problem. You may not use strict inequalities in your formulation.

Solve the specific instance of the 3-way separation problem given in sep3way_data.m, with the
columns of the matrices X, Y and Z giving the x(j) , j = 1, . . . , N , y (j) , j = 1, . . . , M and z (j) , j =
1, . . . , P . To save you the trouble of plotting data points and separation boundaries, we have
included the plotting code in sep3way_data.m. (Note that a1, a2, a3, b1 and b2 contain arbitrary
numbers; you should compute the correct values using CVX.)
7.6 Feature selection and sparse linear separation. Suppose x(1) , . . . , x(N ) and y (1) , . . . , y (M ) are two
given nonempty collections or classes of vectors in Rn that can be (strictly) separated by a hyperplane, i.e., there exists a Rn and b R such that
aT x(i) b 1,

aT y (i) b 1,

i = 1, . . . , N,

i = 1, . . . , M.

This means the two classes are (weakly) separated by the slab
S = {z | |aT z b| 1},
which has thickness 2/kak2 . You can think of the components of x(i) and y (i) as features; a and b
define an affine function that combines the features and allows us to distinguish the two classes.
To find the thickest slab that separates the two classes, we can solve the QP
minimize kak2
subject to aT x(i) b 1, i = 1, . . . , N
aT y (i) b 1, i = 1, . . . , M,
with variables a Rn and b R. (This is equivalent to the problem given in (8.23), p424, 8.6.1;
see also exercise 8.23.)
In this problem we seek (a, b) that separate the two classes with a thick slab, and also has a sparse,
i.e., there are many j with aj = 0. Note that if aj = 0, the affine function aT z b does not depend
on zj , i.e., the jth feature is not used to carry out classification. So a sparse a corresponds to a
classification function that is parsimonious; it depends on just a few features. So our goal is to find
an affine classification function that gives a thick separating slab, and also uses as few features as
possible to carry out the classification.
This is in general a hard combinatorial (bi-criterion) optimization problem, so we use the standard
heuristic of solving
minimize kak2 + kak1
subject to aT x(i) b 1, i = 1, . . . , N
aT y (i) b 1, i = 1, . . . , M,
where 0 is a weight vector that controls the trade-off between separating slab thickness and
(indirectly, through the 1 norm) sparsity of a.
Get the data in sp_ln_sp_data.m, which gives x(i) and y (i) as the columns of matrices X and Y,
respectively. Find the thickness of the maximum thickness separating slab. Solve the problem above
for 100 or so values of over an appropriate range (we recommend log spacing). For each value,
60

record the separation slab thickness 2/kak2 and card(a), the cardinality of a (i.e., the number
of nonzero entries). In computing the cardinality, you can count an entry aj of a as zero if it
satisfies |aj | 104 . Plot these data with slab thickness on the vertical axis and cardinality on the
horizontal axis.
Use this data to choose a set of 10 features out of the 50 in the data. Give the indices of the features
you choose. You may have several choices of sets of features here; you can just choose one. Then
find the maximum thickness separating slab that uses only the chosen features. (This is standard
practice: once youve chosen the features youre going to use, you optimize again, using only those
features, and without the 1 regularization.
7.7 Thickest slab separating two sets. We are given two sets in Rn : a polyhedron
C1 = {x | Cx  d},
defined by a matrix C Rmn and a vector d Rm , and an ellipsoid
C2 = {P u + q | kuk2 1},
defined by a matrix P Rnn and a vector q Rn . We assume that the sets are nonempty and
that they do not intersect. We are interested in the optimization problem
maximize inf xC1 aT x supxC2 aT x
subject to kak2 = 1.
with variable a Rn .

Explain how you would solve this problem. You can answer the question by reducing the problem
to a standard problem class (LP, QP, SOCP, SDP, . . . ), or by describing an algorithm to solve it.
Remark. The geometrical interpretation is as follows. If we choose
1
b = ( inf aT x + sup aT x),
2 xC1
xC2
then the hyperplane H = {x | aT x = b} is the maximum margin separating hyperplane separating
C1 and C2 . Alternatively, a gives us the thickest slab that separates the two sets.

7.8 Bounding object position from multiple camera views. A small object is located at unknown position
x R3 , and viewed by a set of m cameras. Our goal is to find a box in R3 ,
B = {z R3 | l  z  u},
for which we can guarantee x B. We want the smallest possible such bounding box. (Although
it doesnt matter, we can use volume to judge smallest among boxes.)
Now we describe the cameras. The object at location x R3 creates an image on the image plane
of camera i at location
1
(Ai x + bi ) R2 .
vi = T
c i x + di

61

The matrices Ai R23 , vectors bi R2 and ci R3 , and real numbers di R are known, and
depend on the camera positions and orientations. We assume that cTi x + di > 0. The 3 4 matrix
Pi =

"

Ai bi
cTi di

is called the camera matrix (for camera i). It is often (but not always) the case the that the first 3
columns of Pi (i.e., Ai stacked above cTi ) form an orthogonal matrix, in which case the camera is
called orthographic.
We do not have direct access to the image point vi ; we only know the (square) pixel that it lies in.
In other words, the camera gives us a measurement vi (the center of the pixel that the image point
lies in); we are guaranteed that
kvi vi k i /2,
where i is the pixel width (and height) of camera i. (We know nothing else about vi ; it could be
any point in this pixel.)
Given the data Ai , bi , ci , di , vi , i , we are to find the smallest box B (i.e., find the vectors l and
u) that is guaranteed to contain x. In other words, find the smallest box in R3 that contains all
points consistent with the observations from the camera.
(a) Explain how to solve this using convex or quasiconvex optimization. You must explain any
transformations you use, any new variables you introduce, etc. If the convexity or quasiconvexity of any function in your formulation isnt obvious, be sure justify it.
(b) Solve the specific problem instance given in the file camera_data.m. Be sure that your final
numerical answer (i.e., l and u) stands out.
7.9 Triangulation from multiple camera views. A projective camera can be described by a linearfractional function f : R3 R2 ,
f (x) =
with

1
(Ax + b),
+d

dom f = {x | cT x + d > 0},

cT x

"

A
rank( T
c

) = 3.

The domain of f consists of the points in front of the camera.

Before stating the problem, we give some background and interpretation, most of which will not
be needed for the actual problem.

62

x
x
principal axis

camera center

principal plane

image plane

The 3 4-matrix
P =

"

A
cT

b
d

is called the camera matrix and has rank 3. Since f is invariant with respect to a scaling of P , we
can normalize the parameters and assume, for example, that kck2 = 1. The numerator cT x + d is
then the distance of x to the plane {z | cT z + d = 0}. This plane is called the principal plane. The
point
"
#1 "
#
A
b
xc =
cT
d
lies in the principal plane and is called the camera center. The ray {xc + c | 0}, which is
perpendicular to the principal plane, is the principal axis. We will define the image plane as the
plane parallel to the principal plane, at a unit distance from it along the principal axis.
The point x in the figure is the intersection of the image plane and the line through the camera
center and x, and is given by
1
(x xc ).
x = xc + T
c (x xc )
Using the definition of xc we can write f (x) as
f (x) =

1
A(x xc ) = A(x xc ) = Ax + b.
cT (x xc )

This shows that the mapping f (x) can be interpreted as a projection of x on the image plane to
get x , followed by an affine transformation of x . We can interpret f (x) as the point x expressed
in some two-dimensional coordinate system attached to the image plane.
In this exercise we consider the problem of determining the position of a point x R3 from its
image in N cameras. Each of the cameras is characterized by a known linear-fractional mapping
fk and camera matrix Pk :
1
(Ak x + bk ),
fk (x) = T
c k x + dk

Pk =
63

"

Ak bk
cTk dk

k = 1, . . . , N.

The image of the point x in camera k is denoted y (k) R2 . Due to camera imperfections and
calibration errors, we do not expect the equations fk (x) = y (k) , k = 1, . . . , N , to be exactly
solvable. To estimate the point x we therefore minimize the maximum error in the N equations by
solving
minimize g(x) = max kfk (x) y (k) k2 .
(25)
k=1,...,N

(a) Show that (25) is a quasiconvex optimization problem. The variable in the problem is x R3 .
The functions fk (i.e., the parameters Ak , bk , ck , dk ) and the vectors y (k) are given.
(b) Solve the following instance of (25) using CVX (and bisection): N = 4,
1 0 0 0

P1 = 0 1 0 0 ,
0 0 1 0

(1)

"

1
1 1 10

1 1
0 ,
P3 = 1
1 1 1
10

0.98
0.93

(2)

"

1.01
1.01

1
0 0 0

0 1 0 ,
P2 = 0
0 1 0 10

0
1 1 0

P4 = 0 1 1 0 ,
1
0 0 10
y

(3)

"

0.95
1.05

(4)

"

2.04
0.00

You can terminate the bisection when a point is found with accuracy g(x) p 104 , where
p is the optimal value of (25).
7.10 Projection onto the probability simplex. In this problem you will work out a simple method for
finding the Euclidean projection y of x Rn onto the probability simplex P = {z | z  0, 1T z = 1}.
Hints. Consider the problem of minimizing (1/2)ky xk22 subject to y  0, 1T y = 1. Form the
partial Lagrangian
L(y, ) = (1/2)ky xk22 + (1T y 1),
leaving the constraint y  0 implicit. Show that y = (x 1)+ minimizes L(y, ) over y  0.
7.11 Conformal mapping via convex optimization. Suppose that is a closed bounded region in C with
no holes (i.e., it is simply connected). The Riemann mapping theorem states that there exists a
conformal mapping from onto D = {z C | |z| 1}, the unit disk in the complex plane.
(This means that is an analytic function, and maps one-to-one onto D.)
One proof of the Riemann mapping theorem is based on an infinite dimensional optimization
problem. We choose a point a int (the interior of ). Among all analytic functions that map
(the boundary of ) into D, we choose one that maximizes the magnitude of the derivative at
a. Amazingly, it can be shown that this function is a conformal mapping of onto D.
We can use this theorem to construct an approximate conformal mapping, by sampling the boundary of , and by restricting the optimization to a finite-dimensional subspace of analytic functions.
Let b1 , . . . , bN be a set of points in (meant to be a sampling of the boundary). We will search
only over polynomials of degree up to n,
(z)

= 1 z n + 2 z n1 + + n z + n+1 ,
64

where 1 , . . . , n+1 C. With these approximations, we obtain the problem

maximize | (a)|
subject to |(b
i )| 1,

i = 1, . . . , N,

with variables 1 , . . . , n+1 C. The problem data are b1 , . . . , bN and a int .

(a) Explain how to solve the problem above via convex or quasiconvex optimization.
(b) Carry out your method on the problem instance given in conf_map_data.m. This file defines
the boundary points bi and plots them. It also contains code that will plot (b
i ), the boundary
of the mapped region, once you provide the values of j ; these points should be very close to
the boundary of the unit disk. (Please turn in this plot, and give us the values of j that you
find.) The function polyval may be helpful.
Remarks.
Weve been a little informal in our mathematics here, but it wont matter.

You do not need to know any complex analysis to solve this problem; weve told you everything
you need to know.
A basic result from complex analysis tells us that is one-to-one if and only if the image of
the boundary does not loop over itself. (We mention this just for fun; were not asking you
to verify that the you find is one-to-one.)
7.12 Fitting a vector field to given directions. This problem concerns a vector field on Rn , i.e., a function
F : Rn Rn . We are given the direction of the vector field at points x(1) , . . . , x(N ) Rn ,
q (i) =

1
F (x(i) ),
kF (x(i) )k2

i = 1, . . . , N.

(These directions might be obtained, for example, from samples of trajectories of the differential
equation z = F (z).) The goal is to fit these samples with a vector field of the form
F = 1 F1 + + m Fm ,
where F1 , . . . , Fm : Rn Rn are given (basis) functions, and Rm is a set of coefficients that
we will choose.
We will measure the fit using the maximum angle error,




J = max 6 (q (i) , F (x(i) )) ,
i=1,...,N

where 6 (z, w) = cos1 ((z T w)/kzk2 kwk2 ) denotes the angle between nonzero vectors z and w. We
are only interested in the case when J is smaller than /2.
(a) Explain how to choose so as to minimize J using convex optimization. Your method can
involve solving multiple convex problems. Be sure to explain how you handle the constraints
F (x(i) ) 6= 0.
65

(b) Use your method to solve the problem instance with data given in vfield_fit_data.m, with
an affine vector field fit, i.e., F (z) = Az + b. (The matrix A and vector b are the parameters
above.) Give your answer to the nearest degree, as in 20 < J 21 .
This file also contains code that plots the vector field directions, and also (but commented
out) the directions of the vector field fit, F (x(i) )/kF (x(i) )k2 . Create this plot, with your fitted
vector field.
7.13 Robust minimum volume covering ellipsoid. Suppose z is a point in Rn and E is an ellipsoid in Rn
with center c. The Mahalanobis distance of the point to the ellipsoid center is defined as
M (z, E) = inf{t 0 | z c + t(E c)},
which is the factor by which we need to scale the ellipsoid about its center so that z is on its
boundary. We have z E if and only if M (z, E) 1. We can use (M (z, E) 1)+ as a measure of
the Mahalanobis distance of the point z to the ellipsoid E.
Now we can describe the problem. We are given m points x1 , . . . , xm Rn . The goal is to find the
optimal trade-off between the volume of the ellipsoid E and the total Mahalanobis distance of the
points to the ellipsoid, i.e.,
m
X
i=1

(M (z, E) 1)+ .

Note that this can be considered a robust version of finding the smallest volume ellipsoid that
covers a set of points, since here we allow one or more points to be outside the ellipsoid.
(a) Explain how to solve this problem. You must say clearly what your variables are, what problem
you solve, and why the problem is convex.
(b) Carry out your method on the data given in rob_min_vol_ellips_data.m. Plot the optimal
trade-off curve of ellipsoid volume versus total Mahalanobis distance. For some selected points
on the trade-off curve, plot the ellipsoid and the points (which are in R2 ). We are only
interested in the region of the curve where the ellipsoid volume is within a factor of ten (say)
of the minimum volume ellipsoid that covers all the points.
Important. Depending on how you formulate the problem, you might encounter problems that
are unbounded below, or where CVX encounters numerical difficulty. Just avoid these by
appropriate choice of parameter.
Very important. If you use Matlab version 7.0 (which is filled with bugs) you might find that
functions involving determinants dont work in CVX. If you use this version of Matlab, then
you must download the file blkdiag.m on the course website and put it in your Matlab path
before the default version (which has a bug).
7.14 Isoperimetric problem. We consider the problem of choosing a curve in a two-dimensional plane
that encloses as much area as possible between itself and the x-axis, subject to constraints. For
simplicity we will consider only curves of the form
C = {(x, y) | y = f (x)},
where f : [0, a] R. This assumes that for each x-value, there can only be a single y-value, which
need not be the case for general curves. We require that at the end points (which are given), the
66

curve returns to the x-axis, so f (0) = 0, and f (a) = 0. In addition, the length of the curve cannot
exceed a budget L, so we must have
Z

aq

1 + f (x)2 dx L.

The objective is the area enclosed, which is given by

Z

f (x) dx.
0

To pose this as a finite dimensional optimization problem, we discretize over the x-values. Specifically, we take xi = h(i 1), i = 1, . . . , N + 1, where h = a/N is the discretization step size, and
we let yi = f (xi ). Thus our objective becomes
h

N
X

yi ,

i=1

and our constraints can be written as

h

N q
X
i=1

1 + ((yi+1 yi )/h)2 L,

y1 = 0,

yN +1 = 0.

In addition to these constraints, we will also require that our curve passes through a set of prespecified points. Let F {1, . . . , N + 1} be an index set. For j F, we require yj = yjfixed , where
y fixed RN +1 (the entries of y fixed whose indices are not in F can be ignored). Finally, we add a
constraint on maximum curvature,
C (yi+2 2yi+1 + yi )/h2 C,

i = 1, . . . , N 1.

Explain how to find the curve, i.e., y1 , . . . , yN +1 , that maximizes the area enclosed subject to these
constraints, using convex optimization. Carry out your method on the problem instance with data
given in iso_perim_data.m. Report the optimal area enclosed, and use the commented out code
in the data file to plot your curve.
Remark (for your amusement only). The isoperimetric problem is an ancient problem in mathematics with a history dating all the way back to the tragedy of queen Dido and the founding of
Carthage. The story (which is mainly the account of the poet Virgil in his epic volume Aeneid ),
goes that Dido was a princess forced to flee her home after her brother murdered her husband. She
travels across the mediterranean and arrives on the shores of what is today modern Tunisia. The
natives werent very happy about the newcomers, but Dido was able to negotiate with the local
King: in return for her fortune, the King promised to cede her as much land as she could mark out
with the skin of a bull.
The king thought he was getting a good deal, but Dido outmatched him in mathematical skill. She
broke down the skin into thin pieces of leather and sewed them into a long piece of string. Then,
taking the seashore as an edge, they laid the string in a semicircle, carving out a piece of land
larger than anyone imagined; and on this land, the ancient city of Carthage was born. When the
king saw what she had done, he was so impressed by Didos talent that he asked her to marry him.
Dido refused, so the king built a university in the hope that he could find another woman with
similar talent.
67

7.15 Dual of maximum volume ellipsoid problem. Consider the problem of computing the maximum
volume ellipsoid inscribed in a nonempty bounded polyhedron
C = {x | aTi x bi , i = 1, . . . , m}.
Parametrizing the ellipsoid as E = {Bu + d | kuk2 1}, with B Sn++ and d Rn , the optimal
ellipsoid can be found by solving the convex optimization problem
minimize log det B
subject to kBai k2 + aTi d bi ,

i = 1, . . . , m

with variables B Sn , d Rn . Derive the Lagrange dual of the equivalent problem

minimize log det B
subject to kyi k2 + aTi d bi , i = 1, . . . , m
Bai = yi , i = 1, . . . , m
with variables B Sn , d Rn , yi Rn , i = 1, . . . , m.
7.16 Fitting a sphere to data. Consider the problem of fitting a sphere {x Rn | kx xc k2 = r} to m
points u1 , . . . , um Rn , by minimizing the error function
m 
X
i=1

kui xc k22 r2

2

over the variables xc R , r R.

(a) Explain how to solve this problem using convex or quasiconvex optimization. The simpler your
formulation, the better. (For example: a convex formulation is simpler than a quasiconvex
formulation; an LP is simpler than an SOCP, which is simpler than an SDP.) Be sure to explain
what your variables are, and how your formulation minimizes the error function above.
(b) Use your method to solve the problem instance with data given in the file sphere_fit_data.m,
with n = 2. Plot the fitted circle and the data points.
7.17 The polar of a set C Rn is defined as

C = {x | uT x 1 u C}.

(a) Show that C is convex, regardless of the properties of C.

(b) Let C1 and C2 be two nonempty polyhedra defined by sets of linear inequalities:
C1 = {u Rn | A1 u  b1 },

C2 = {v Rn | A2 v  b2 }

with A1 Rm1 n , A2 Rm2 n , b1 Rm1 , b2 Rm2 . Formulate the problem of finding the
Euclidean distance between C1 and C2 ,
minimize kx1 x2 k22
subject to x1 C1
x2 C2 ,
as a QP. Your formulation should be efficient, i.e., the dimensions of the QP (number of
variables and constraints) should be linear in m1 , m2 , n. (In particular, formulations that
require enumerating the extreme points of C1 and C2 are to be avoided.)
68

7.18 Polyhedral cone questions. You are given matrices A Rnk and B Rnp .

Explain how to solve the following two problems using convex optimization. Your solution can
involve solving multiple convex problems, as long as the number of such problems is no more than
linear in the dimensions n, k, p.
(a) How would you determine whether ARk+ BRp+ ? This means that every nonnegative linear
combination of the columns of A can be expressed as a nonnegative linear combination of the
columns of B.
(b) How would you determine whether ARk+ = Rn ? This means that every vector in Rn can be
expressed as a nonnegative linear combination of the columns of A.

7.19 Projection on convex hull of union of ellipsoids. Let E1 , . . . , Em be m ellipsoids in Rn defined as

Ei = {Ai u + bi | kuk2 1},

i = 1, . . . , m,

with Ai Rnn and bi Rn . Consider the problem of projecting a point a Rn on the convex
hull of the union of the ellipsoids:
minimize kx ak2
subject to x conv(E1 Em ).
Formulate this as a second order cone program.
7.20 Bregman divergences. Let f : Rn R be strictly convex and differentiable. Then the Bregman
divergence associated with f is the function Df : Rn Rn R given by
Df (x, y) = f (x) f (y) f (y)T (x y).
(a) Show that Df (x, y) 0 for all x, y dom f .

(b) Show that if f = k k22 , then Df (x, y) = kx yk22 .

(c) Show that if f (x) =
to be 0), then

Pn

i=1 xi log xi

(negative entropy), with dom f = Rn+ (with 0 log 0 taken

Df (x, y) =

n
X
i=1

(xi log(xi /yi ) xi + yi ) ,

the Kullback-Leibler divergence between x and y.

(d) Bregman projection. The previous parts suggest that Bregman divergences can be viewed as
generalized distances, i.e., functions that measure how similar two vectors are. This suggests
solving geometric problems that measure distance between vectors using a Bregman divergence
rather than Euclidean distance.
Explain whether
minimize Df (x, y)
subject to x C,
with variable x Rn , is a convex optimization problem (assuming C is convex).

(e) Duality. Show that Dg (y , x ) = Df (x, y), where g = f and z = f (z). You can assume
that f = (f )1 and that f is closed.
69

7.21 Ellipsoidal peeling. In this problem, you will implement an outlier identification technique using
L
owner-John ellipsoids. Given a set of points D = {x1 , . . . , xN } in Rn , the goal is to identify a
set O D that are anomalous in some sense. Roughly speaking, we think of an outlier as a point
that is far away from most of the points, so we would like the points in D \ O to be relatively close
together, and to be relatively far apart from the points in O.
We describe a heuristic technique for identifying O. We start with O = and find the minimum
volume (L
owner-John) ellipsoid E containing all xi
/ O (which is all xi in the first step). Each
iteration, we flag (i.e., add to O) the point that corresponds to the largest dual variable for the
constraint xi E; this point will be one of the points on the boundary of E, and intuitively, it will
be the one for whom the constraint is most binding. We then plot vol E (on a log scale) versus
card O and hope that we see a sharp drop in the curve. We use the value of O after the drop.
The hope is that after removing a relatively small number of points, the volume of the minimum
volume ellipsoid containing the remaining points will be much smaller than the minimum volume
ellipsoid for D, which means the removed points are far away from the others.

For example, suppose we have 100 points that lie in the unit ball and 3 points with (Euclidean)
norm 1000. Intuitively, it is clear that it is reasonable to consider the three large points outliers.
The minimum volume ellipsoid of all 103 points will have very large volume. The three points will
be the first ones removed, and as soon as they are, the volume of the ellipsoid ellipsoid will drop
dramatically and be on the order of the volume of the unit ball.

Run 6 iterations of the algorithm on the data given in ellip_anomaly_data.m. Plot vol E (on a
log scale) versus card O. In addition, on a single plot, plot all the ellipses found with the function
ellipse_draw(A,b) along with the outliers (in red) and the remaining points (in blue).
Of course, we have chosen an example in R2 so the ellipses can be plotted, but one can detect
outliers in R2 simply by inspection. In dimension much higher than 3, however, detecting outliers
by plotting will become substantially more difficult, while the same algorithm can be used.
Note. In CVX, you should use det_rootn (which is SDP-representable and handled exactly) instead
of log_det (which is handled using an inefficient iterative procedure).

70

Unconstrained and equality constrained minimization

8.1 Gradient descent and nondifferentiable functions.

(a) Let > 1. Show that the function

f (x1 , x2 ) =

x21 + x22

|x2 | x1

x + |x2 |

otherwise

1+

is convex. You can do this, for example, by verifying that

n

f (x1 , x2 ) = sup x1 y1 +

x2 y2  y12 + y22 1, y1 1/ 1 + .
p

Note that f is unbounded below. (Take x2 = 0 and let x1 go to .)

(b) Consider the gradient descent algorithm applied to f , with starting point x(0) = (, 1) and an
exact line search. Show that the iterates are
(k)
x1

1
+1

k

(k)
x2

1
=
+1


k

Therefore x(k) converges to (0, 0). However, this is not the optimum, since f is unbounded
below.
8.2 A characterization of the Newton decrement. Let f : Rn R be convex and twice differentiable,
and let A be a p n-matrix with rank p. Suppose x
is feasible for the equality constrained problem
minimize f (x)
subject to Ax = b.
Recall that the Newton step x at x
can be computed from the linear equations
"

2 f (
x) AT
A
0

#"

x
u

"

f (
x)
0

and that the Newton decrement (

x) is defined as
(
x) = (f (
x)T x)1/2 = (xT 2 f (
x)x)1/2 .
Assume the coefficient matrix in the linear equations above is nonsingular and that (
x) is positive.
Express the solution y of the optimization problem
minimize f (
x )T y
subject to Ay = 0
y T 2 f (
x)y 1
in terms of Newton step x and the Newton decrement (
x).
8.3 Suggestions for exercises 9.30 in Convex Optimization. We recommend the following to generate
a problem instance:
71

n = 100;
m = 200;
randn(state,1);
A=randn(m,n);
Of course, you should try out your code with different dimensions, and different data as well.
In all cases, be sure that your line search first finds a step length for which the tentative point is
in dom f ; if you attempt to evaluate f outside its domain, youll get complex numbers, and youll
never recover.
To find expressions for f (x) and 2 f (x), use the chain rule (see Appendix A.4); if you attempt
to compute 2 f (x)/xi xj , you will be sorry.
To compute the Newton step, you can use vnt=-H\g.
8.4 Suggestions for exercise 9.31 in Convex Optimization. For 9.31a, you should try out N = 1,
N = 15, and N = 30. You might as well compute and store the Cholesky factorization of the
Hessian, and then back solve to get the search directions, even though you wont really see any
speedup in Matlab for such a small problem. After you evaluate the Hessian, you can find the
Cholesky factorization as L=chol(H,lower). You can then compute a search step as -L\(L\g),
where g is the gradient at the current point. Matlab will do the right thing, i.e., it will first solve
L\g using forward substitution, and then it will solve -L\(L\g) using backward substitution. Each
substitution is order n2 .
To fairly compare the convergence of the three methods (i.e., N = 1, N = 15, N = 30), the
horizontal axis should show the approximate total number of flops required, and not the number
of iterations. You can compute the approximate number of flops using n3 /3 for each factorization,
and 2n2 for each solve (where each solve involves a forward substitution step and a backward
substitution step).
8.5 Efficient numerical method for a regularized least-squares problem. We consider a regularized least
squares problem with smoothing,
minimize

k
X
i=1

(aTi x

bi ) +

n1
X
i=1

(xi xi+1 ) +

n
X

x2i ,

i=1

where x R is the variable, and , > 0 are parameters.

(a) Express the optimality conditions for this problem as a set of linear equations involving x.
(These are called the normal equations.)
(b) Now assume that k n. Describe an efficient method to solve the normal equations found in
part (a). Give an approximate flop count for a general method that does not exploit structure,
and also for your efficient method.
(c) A numerical instance. In this part you will try out your efficient method. Well choose k = 100
and n = 2000, and = = 1. First, randomly generate A and b with these dimensions. Form
the normal equations as in part (a), and solve them using a generic method. Next, write
(short) code implementing your efficient method, and run it on your problem instance. Verify
that the solutions found by the two methods are nearly the same, and also that your efficient
method is much faster than the generic one.
72

Note: Youll need to know some things about Matlab to be sure you get the speedup from the
efficient method. Your method should involve solving linear equations with tridiagonal coefficient
matrix. In this case, both the factorization and the back substitution can be carried out very
efficiently. The Matlab documentation says that banded matrices are recognized and exploited,
when solving equations, but we found this wasnt always the case. To be sure Matlab knows your
matrix is tridiagonal, you can declare the matrix as sparse, using spdiags, which can be used to
create a tridiagonal matrix. You could also create the tridiagonal matrix conventionally, and then
convert the resulting matrix to a sparse one using sparse.
One other thing you need to know. Suppose you need to solve a group of linear equations with the
same coefficient matrix, i.e., you need to compute F 1 a1 , ..., F 1 am , where F is invertible and ai
are column vectors. By concatenating columns, this can be expressed as a single matrix
h

F 1 a1 F 1 am = F 1 [a1 am ] .

To compute this matrix using Matlab, you should collect the righthand sides into one matrix (as
above) and use Matlabs backslash operator: F\A. This will do the right thing: factor the matrix
F once, and carry out multiple back substitutions for the righthand sides.
8.6 Newton method for approximate total variation de-noising. Total variation de-noising is based on
the bi-criterion problem with the two objectives
kx xcor k2 ,

tv (x) =

n1
X
i=1

|xi+1 xi |.

Here xcor Rn is the (given) corrupted signal, x Rn is the de-noised signal to be computed,
and tv is the total variation function. This bi-criterion problem can be formulated as an SOCP,
or, by squaring the first objective, as a QP. In this problem we consider a method used to approximately formulate the total variation de-noising problem as an unconstrained problem with twice
differentiable objective, for which Newtons method can be used.
We first observe that the Pareto optimal points for the bi-criterion total variation de-noising problem
can found as the minimizers of the function
kx xcor k22 + tv (x),
where 0 is parameter. (Note that the Euclidean norm term has been squared here, and so is
twice differentiable.) In approximate total variation de-noising, we substitute a twice differentiable
approximation of the total variation function,
atv (x) =

n1
X q

i=1

+ (xi+1 xi

)2

for the total variation function tv . Here > 0 is parameter that controls the level of approximation.
In approximate total variation de-noising, we use Newtons method to minimize
(x) = kx xcor k22 + atv (x).
(The parameters > 0 and > 0 are given.)
73

(a) Find expressions for the gradient and Hessian of .

(b) Explain how you would exploit the structure of the Hessian to compute the Newton direction
for efficiently. (Your explanation can be brief.) Compare the approximate flop count for
your method with the flop count for a generic method that does not exploit any structure in
the Hessian of .
(c) Implement Newtons method for approximate total variation de-noising. Get the corrupted
signal xcor from the file approx_tv_denoising_data.m, and compute the de-noised signal x ,
using parameters = 0.001, = 50 (which are also in the file). Use line search parameters
= 0.01, = 0.5, initial point x(0) = 0, and stopping criterion 2 /2 108 . Plot the
Newton decrement versus iteration, to verify asymptotic quadratic convergence. Plot the final
smoothed signal x , along with the corrupted one xcor .
8.7 Derive the Newton equation for the unconstrained minimization problem
minimize (1/2)xT x + log

Pm

T
i=1 exp(ai x

+ bi ).

Give an efficient method for solving the Newton system, assuming the matrix A Rmn (with
rows aTi ) is dense with m n. Give an approximate flop count of your method.
8.8 We consider the equality constrained problem
minimize tr(CX) log det X
subject to diag(X) = 1.
The variable is the matrix X Sn . The domain of the objective function is Sn++ . The matrix
C Sn is a problem parameter. This problem is similar to the analytic centering problem discussed
in lecture 11 (p.1819) and pages 553-555 of the textbook. The differences are the extra linear term
tr(CX) in the objective, and the special form of the equality constraints. (Note that the equality
constraints can be written as tr(Ai X) = 1 with Ai = ei eTi , a matrix of zeros except for the i, i
element, which is equal to one.)
(a) Show that X is optimal if and only if
X 0,

X 1 C is diagonal,

diag(X) = 1.

(b) The Newton step X at a feasible X is defined as the solution of the Newton equations
X 1 XX 1 + diag(w) = C + X 1 ,

diag(X) = 0,

with variables X Sn , w Rn . (Note the two meanings of the diag function: diag(w) is
the diagonal matrix with the vector w on its diagonal; diag(X) is the vector of the diagonal
elements of X.) Eliminating X from the first equation gives an equation
diag(X diag(w)X) = 1 diag(XCX).
This is a set of n linear equations in n variables, so it can be written as Hw = g. Give a
simple expression for the coefficients of the matrix H.

74

(c) Implement the feasible Newton method in Matlab. You can use X = I as starting point. The
code should terminate when (X)2 /2 106 , where (X) is the Newton decrement.
You can use the Cholesky factorization to evaluate the cost function: if X = LLT where L is
P
triangular with positive diagonal then log det X = 2 i log Lii .
To ensure that the iterates remain feasible, the line search has to consist of two phases. Starting
at t = 1, you first need to backtrack until X + tX 0. Then you continue the backtracking
until the condition of sufficient decrease
f0 (X + tX) f0 (X) + t tr(f0 (X)X)
is satisfied. To check that a matrix X + tX is positive definite, you can use the Cholesky
factorization with two output arguments ([R, p] = chol(A) returns p > 0 if A is not positive
definite).
Test your code on randomly generated problems of sizes n = 10, . . . , 100 (for example, using
n = 100; C = randn(n); C = C + C).
8.9 Estimation of a vector from one-bit measurements. A system of m sensors is used to estimate an
unknown parameter x Rn . Each sensor makes a noisy measurement of some linear combination
of the unknown parameters, and quantizes the measured value to one bit: it returns +1 if the
measured value exceeds a certain threshold, and 1 otherwise. In other words, the output of
sensor i is given by
(
1 aTi x + vi bi
T
yi = sign(ai x + vi bi ) =
1 aTi x + vi < bi ,
where ai and bi are known, and vi is measurement error. We assume that the measurement errors
vi are independent random variables with
zero-mean unit-variance Gaussian distribution (i.e.,
a v
2
with a probability density (v) = (1/ 2)e /2 ). As a consequence, the sensor outputs yi are
random variables with possible values 1. We will denote prob(yi = 1) as Pi (x) to emphasize that
it is a function of the unknown parameter x:
1
Pi (x) = prob(yi = 1) = prob(aTi x + vi bi ) =
2

1
1 Pi (x) = prob(yi = 1) = prob(aTi x + vi < bi ) =
2

bi aT
i x

et

bi aT
i x

2 /2

et

dt
2 /2

dt.

The problem is to estimate x, based on observed values y1 , y2 , . . . , ym of the m sensor outputs.

We will apply the maximum likelihood (ML) principle to determine an estimate x
. In maximum
likelihood estimation, we calculate x
by maximizing the log-likelihood function

l(x) = log

yi =1

Pi (x)

(1 Pi (x)) =

yi =1

log Pi (x) +

yi =1

yi =1

log(1 Pi (x)).

(a) Show that the maximum likelihood estimation problem

maximize l(x)
is a convex optimization problem. The variable is x. The measured vector y, and the parameters ai and bi are given.
75

(b) Solve the ML estimation problem with data defined in one_bit_meas_data.m, using Newtons
method with backtracking line search. This file will define a matrix A (with rows aTi ), a vector
b, and a vector y with elements 1.
Remark. The Matlab functions erfc and erfcx are useful to evaluate the following functions:
1

2
1
2
eu /2
2

t2 /2

t2 /2

1
u
dt = erfc( ),
2
2

u
1
dt = erfcx( ),
2
2

2 /2

1
2
eu /2
2

76

et
Z

1
u
dt = erfc( )
2
2

et

2 /2

u
1
dt = erfcx( ).
2
2

Interior point methods

9.1 Dual feasible point from analytic center. We consider the problem
minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) 0,

(26)

i = 1, . . . , m,

where the functions fi are convex and differentiable. For u > p , define xac (u) as the analytic
center of the inequalities
f0 (x) u,

fi (x) 0,

i = 1, . . . , m,

i.e.,
xac (u) = argmin log(u f0 (x))
Show that Rm , defined by
i =

u f0 (xac (u))
,
fi (xac (u))

m
X

log(fi (x)) .

i=1

i = 1, . . . , m

is dual feasible for the problem above. Express the corresponding dual objective value in terms of
u, xac (u) and the problem parameters.
9.2 Efficient solution of Newton equations. Explain how you would solve the Newton equations in the
barrier method applied to the quadratic program
minimize (1/2)xT x + cT x
subject to Ax  b
where A Rmn is dense. Distinguish two cases, m n and n m, and give the most efficient
method in each case.
9.3 Efficient solution of Newton equations. Describe an efficient method for solving the Newton equation in the barrier method for the quadratic program
minimize (1/2)(x a)T P 1 (x a)
subject to 0  x  1,
with variable x Rn . The matrix P Sn and the vector a Rn are given.

Assume that the matrix P is large, positive definite, and sparse, and that P 1 is dense. Efficient
means that the complexity of the method should be much less than O(n3 ).
9.4 Dual feasible point from incomplete centering. Consider the SDP
minimize 1T x
subject to W + diag(x)  0,
with variable x Rn , and its dual
maximize tr W Z
subject to Zii = 1, i = 1, . . . , n
Z  0,
77

with variable X Sn . (These problems arise in a relaxation of the two-way partitioning problem,
described on page 219; see also exercises 5.39 and 11.23.)
Standard results for the barrier method tell us that when x is on the central path, i.e., minimizes
the function
(x) = t1T x + log det(W + diag(x))1
for some parameter t > 0, the matrix
1
Z = (W + diag(x))1
t
is dual feasible, with objective value tr W Z = 1T x n/t.

Now suppose that x is strictly feasible, but not necessarily on the central path. (For example, x
might be the result of using Newtons method to minimize , but with early termination.) Then
the matrix Z defined above will not be dual feasible. In this problem we will show how to construct
a dual feasible Z (which agrees with Z as given above when x is on the central path), from any
point x that is near the central path. Define X = W + diag(x), and let v = 2 (x)1 (x) be
the Newton step for the function defined above. Define

1  1
X X 1 diag(v)X 1 .
Z =
t

(a) Verify that when x is on the central path, we have Z = Z.

(b) Show that Zii = 1, for i = 1, . . . , n.

(c) Let (x) = (x)T 2 (x)1 (x) be the Newton decrement at x. Show that
(x) = tr(X 1 diag(v)X 1 diag(v)) = tr(X 1/2 diag(v)X 1/2 )2 .
(d) Show that (x) < 1 implies that Z 0. Thus, when x is near the central path (meaning,
(x) < 1), Z is dual feasible.
9.5 Standard form LP barrier method. In the following three parts of this exercise, you will implement
a barrier method for solving the standard form LP
minimize cT x
subject to Ax = b,

x  0,

with variable x Rn , where A Rmn , with m < n. Throughout these exercises we will assume
that A is full rank, and the sublevel sets {x | Ax = b, x  0, cT x } are all bounded. (If this is
not the case, the centering problem is unbounded below.)
(a) Centering step. Implement Newtons method for solving the centering problem
Pn

minimize cT x
subject to Ax = b,

i=1 log xi

with variable x, given a strictly feasible starting point x0 .

Your code should accept A, b, c, and x0 , and return x , the primal optimal point, , a dual
optimal point, and the number of Newton steps executed.
78

Use the block elimination method to compute the Newton step. (You can also compute the
Newton step via the KKT system, and compare the result to the Newton step computed via
block elimination. The two steps should be close, but if any xi is very small, you might get a
warning about the condition number of the KKT matrix.)
Plot 2 /2 versus iteration k, for various problem data and initial points, to verify that your
implementation gives asymptotic quadratic convergence. As stopping criterion, you can use
2 /2 106 . Experiment with varying the algorithm parameters and , observing the effect
on the total number of Newton steps required, for a fixed problem instance. Check that your
computed x and (nearly) satisfy the KKT conditions.
To generate some random problem data (i.e., A, b, c, x0 ), we recommend the following approach. First, generate A randomly. (You might want to check that it has full rank.) Then
generate a random positive vector x0 , and take b = Ax0 . (This ensures that x0 is strictly
feasible.) The parameter c can be chosen randomly. To be sure the sublevel sets are bounded,
you can add a row to A with all positive elements. If you want to be able to repeat a run with
the same problem data, be sure to set the state for the uniform and normal random number
generators.
Here are some hints that may be useful.
We recommend computing 2 using the formula 2 = xTnt f (x). You dont really need
for anything; you can work with 2 instead. (This is important for reasons described
below.)
There can be small numerical errors in the Newton step xnt that you compute. When
x is nearly optimal, the computed value of 2 , i.e., 2 = xTnt f (x), can actually be
(slightly) negative. If you take the squareroot to get , youll get a complex number,
and youll never recover. Moreover, your line search will never exit. However, this only
happens when x is nearly optimal. So if you exit on the condition 2 /2 106 , everything
will be fine, even when the computed value of 2 is negative.
For the line search, you must first multiply the step size t by until x + txnt is feasible
(i.e., strictly positive). If you dont, when you evaluate f youll be taking the logarithm
of negative numbers, and youll never recover.
(b) LP solver with strictly feasible starting point. Using the centering code from part (a), implement a barrier method to solve the standard form LP
minimize cT x
subject to Ax = b,

x  0,

with variable x Rn , given a strictly feasible starting point x0 . Your LP solver should take
as argument A, b, c, and x0 , and return x .
You can terminate your barrier method when the duality gap, as measured by n/t, is smaller
than 103 . (If you make the tolerance much smaller, you might run into some numerical trouble.) Check your LP solver against the solution found by cvx, for several problem instances.
The comments in part (a) on how to generate random data hold here too.
Experiment with the parameter to see the effect on the number of Newton steps per centering
step, and the total number of Newton steps required to solve the problem.
Plot the progress of the algorithm, for a problem instance with n = 500 and m = 100, showing
duality gap (on a log scale) on the vertical axis, versus the cumulative total number of Newton
steps (on a linear scale) on the horizontal axis.
79

Your algorithm should return a 2k matrix history, (where k is the total number of centering
steps), whose first row contains the number of Newton steps required for each centering step,
and whose second row shows the duality gap at the end of each centering step. In order to
get a plot that looks like the ones in the book (e.g., figure 11.4, page 572), you should use the
following code:
[xx, yy] = stairs(cumsum(history(1,:)),history(2,:));
semilogy(xx,yy);
(c) LP solver. Using the code from part (b), implement a general standard form LP solver, that
takes arguments A, b, c, determines (strict) feasibility, and returns an optimal point if the
problem is (strictly) feasible.
You will need to implement a phase I method, that determines whether the problem is strictly
feasible, and if so, finds a strictly feasible point, which can then be fed to the code from
part (b). In fact, you can use the code from part (b) to implement the phase I method.
To find a strictly feasible initial point x0 , we solve the phase I problem
minimize t
subject to Ax = b
x  (1 t)1,

t 0,

with variables x and t. If we can find a feasible (x, t), with t < 1, then x is strictly feasible for
the original problem. The converse is also true, so the original LP is strictly feasible if and
only if t < 1, where t is the optimal value of the phase I problem.
We can initialize x and t for the phase I problem with any x0 satisfying Ax0 = b, and
t0 = 2 mini x0i . (Here we can assume that min x0i 0; otherwise x0 is already a strictly
feasible point, and we are done.) You can use a change of variable z = x+(t1)1 to transform
the phase I problem into the form in part (b).
Check your LP solver against cvx on several numerical examples, including both feasible and
infeasible instances.
9.6 Barrier method for LP. Consider a standard form LP and its dual
minimize cT x
subject to Ax = b
x0

maximize bT y
subject to AT y  c,

with A Rmn and rank(A) = m. In the barrier method the (feasible) Newton method is applied
to the equality constrained problem
minimize tcT x + (x)
subject to Ax = b,
where t > 0 and (x) =

n
P

i=1

"

log xi . The Newton equation at a strictly feasible x

is given by

2 (
x) AT
A
0

#"

x
w

"

tc (
x)
0

Suppose (
x) 1 where (
x) is the Newton decrement at x
.
80

(a) Show that x

+ x is primal feasible.
(b) Show that y = (1/t)w is dual feasible.

(c) Let p be the optimal value of the LP. Show that

n + (
x) n
c x
p
.
t
T

81

10

Mathematical background

10.1 Some famous inequalities. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality states that

|aT b| kak2 kbk2
for all vectors a, b Rn (see page 633 of the textbook).
(a) Prove the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.
Hint. A simple proof is as follows. With a and b fixed, consider the function g(t) = ka + tbk22
of the scalar variable t. This function is nonnegative for all t. Find an expression for inf t g(t)
(the minimum value of g), and show that the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality follows from the fact
that inf t g(t) 0.

(b) The 1-norm of a vector x is defined as kxk1 = nk=1 |xk |. Use the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
to show that

kxk1 nkxk2
P

for all x.
(c) The harmonic mean of a positive vector x Rn++ is defined as
n
1
1X
n k=1 xk

!1

Use the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to show that the arithmetic mean (

n-vector is greater than or equal to its harmonic mean.

xk )/n of a positive

10.2 Schur complements. Consider a matrix X = X T Rnn partitioned as

X=

"

A
BT

B
C

where A Rkk . If det A 6= 0, the matrix S = C B T A1 B is called the Schur complement of

A in X. Schur complements arise in many situations and appear in many important formulas and
theorems. For example, we have det X = det A det S. (You dont have to prove this.)
(a) The Schur complement arises when you minimize a quadratic form over some of the variables.
Let f (u, v) = (u, v)T X(u, v), where u Rk . Let g(v) be the minimum value of f over u, i.e.,
g(v) = inf u f (u, v). Of course g(v) can be .
Show that if A 0, we have g(v) = v T Sv.

(b) The Schur complement arises in several characterizations of positive definiteness or semidefiniteness of a block matrix. As examples we have the following three theorems:

X 0 if and only if A 0 and S 0.

If A 0, then X  0 if and only if S  0.
X  0 if and only if A  0, B T (I AA ) = 0 and C B T A B  0, where A is the
pseudo-inverse of A. (C B T A B serves as a generalization of the Schur complement in
the case where A is positive semidefinite but singular.)
Prove one of these theorems. (You can choose which one.)

82

11

Circuit design

11.1 Interconnect sizing. In this problem we will size the interconnecting wires of the simple circuit
shown below, with one voltage source driving three different capacitive loads Cload1 , Cload2 , and
Cload3 .

Cload1

Cload2

Cload3

We divide the wires into 6 segments of fixed length li ; our variables will be the widths wi of the
segments. (The height of the wires is related to the particular IC technology process, and is fixed.)
The total area used by the wires is, of course,
A=

w i li .

Well take the lengths to be one, for simplicity. The wire widths must be between a minimum and
maximum allowable value:
Wmin wi Wmax .
For our specific problem, well take Wmin = 0.1 and Wmax = 10.
Each of the wire segments will be modeled by a simple simple RC circuit, with the resistance
inversely proportional to the width of the wire and the capacitance proportional to the width. (A
far better model uses an extra constant term in the capacitance, but this complicates the equations.)
The capacitance and resistance of the ith segment is thus
Ci = k 0 w i ,

Ri = /wi ,

where k0 and are positive constants, which we take to be one for simplicity. We also have
Cload1 = 1.5, Cload2 = 1, and Cload3 = 5.
Using the RC model for the wire segments yields the circuit shown below.

83

R2

R3
C3 + Cload1

C2

R1

R5
R4
C5 + Cload2

R6
C1
C4

C6 + Cload3

We will use the Elmore delay to model the delay from the source to each of the loads. The Elmore
delay to loads 1, 2, and 3 are given by
T1 = (C3 + Cload1 )(R1 + R2 + R3 ) + C2 (R1 + R2 ) +
+(C1 + C4 + C5 + C6 + Cload2 + Cload3 )R1
T2 = (C5 + Cload2 )(R1 + R4 + R5 ) + C4 (R1 + R4 ) +
+(C6 + Cload3 )(R1 + R4 ) + (C1 + C2 + C3 + Cload1 )R1
T3 = (C6 + Cload3 )(R1 + R4 + R6 ) + C4 (R1 + R4 ) +
+(C1 + C2 + C3 + Cload1 )R1 + (C5 + Cload2 )(R1 + R4 ).
Our main interest is in the maximum of these delays,
T = max{T1 , T2 , T3 }.
(a) Explain how to find the optimal trade-off curve between area A and delay T .
(b) Optimal area-delay sizing. For the specific problem parameters given, plot the area-delay
trade-off curve, together with the individual Elmore delays. Comment on the results you
obtain.
(c) The simple method. Plot the area-delay trade-off obtained when you assign all wire widths
to be the same width (which varies between Wmin and Wmax ). Compare this curve to the
optimal one, obtained in part (b). How much better does the optimal method do than the
simple method? Note: for a large circuit, say with 1000 wires to size, the difference is far
larger.
For this problem you can use the CVX in GP mode. Weve also made available the function
elm_del_example.m, which evaluates the three delays, given the widths of the wires.
11.2 Optimal sizing of power and ground trees. We consider a system or VLSI device with many subsystems or subcircuits, each of which needs one or more power supply voltages. In this problem we
consider the case where the power supply network has a tree topology with the power supply (or
external pin connection) at the root. Each node of the tree is connected to some subcircuit that
draws power.
84

We model the power supply as a constant voltage source with value V . The m subcircuits are
modeled as current sources that draw currents i1 (t), . . . , im (t) from the node (to ground) (see the
figure below).
R2
R1

R3
i3 (t)

i2 (t)
R5
R4

i5 (t)

R6
i1 (t)
i6 (t)

i4 (t)

The subcircuit current draws have two components:

ac
ik (t) = idc
k + ik (t)
ac
where idc
k is the DC current draw (which is a positive constant), and ik (t) is the AC draw (which
has zero average value). We characterize the AC current draw by its RMS value, defined as

RMS(iac
k )

1
lim
T T

T
0

2
iac
k (t)

dt

!1/2

For each subcircuit we are given maximum values for the DC and RMS AC currents draws, i.e.,
constants Ikdc and Ikac such that
dc
0 idc
k Ik ,

ac
RMS(iac
k ) Ik .

(27)

The n wires that form the distribution network are modeled as resistors Rk (which, presumably, have
small value). (Since the circuit has a tree topology, we can use the following labeling convention:
node k and the current source ik (t) are immediately following resistor Rk .) The resistance of the
wires is given by
Ri = li /wi ,
where is a constant and li are the lengths of the wires, which are known and fixed. The variables
in the problem are the width of the wires, w1 , . . . , wn . Obviously by making the wires very wide,
the resistances become very low, and we have a nearly ideal power network. The purpose of this
problem is to optimally select wire widths, to minimize area while meeting certain specfications.
Note that in this problem we ignore dynamics, i.e., we do not model the capacitance or inductance
of the wires.
As a result of the current draws and the nonzero resistance of the wires, the voltage at node k
(which supplies subcircuit k) has a DC value less than the supply voltage, and also an AC voltage
(which is called power supply ripple or noise). By superposition these two effects can be analyzed
separately.
85

 The DC voltage drop V vkdc at node k is equal to the sum of the voltage drops across wires
on the (unique) path from node k to the root. It can be expressed as
vkdc

m
X

idc
j

j=1

Ri ,

(28)

iN (j,k)

where N (j, k) consists of the indices of the branches upstream from nodes j and k, i.e.,
i N (j, k) if and only if Ri is in the path from node j to the root and in the path from node
k to the root.
The power supply noise at a node can be found as follows. The AC voltage at node k is equal
to
m
vkac (t) =

iac
j (t)

j=1

Ri .

iN (j,k)

We assume the AC current draws are independent, so the RMS value of vkac (t) is given by the
squareroot of the sum of the squares of the RMS value of the ripple due to each other node,
i.e.,

m
X

RMS(iac )
RMS(vkac ) =
j
j=1

iN (j,k)

2 1/2

Ri .

The problem is to choose wire widths wi that minimize the total wire area
the following specifications:

(29)
Pn

i=k

wk lk subject to

maximum allowable DC voltage drop at each node:

dc
V vkdc Vmax
,

k = 1, . . . , m,

(30)

dc is a given constant.
where V vkdc is given by (28), and Vmax

maximum allowable power supply noise at each node:

ac
RMS(vkac ) Vmax
,

k = 1, . . . , m,

(31)

ac is a given constant.
where RMS(vkac ) is given by (29), and Vmax

upper and lower bounds on wire widths:

wmin wi wmax ,

i = 1, . . . , n,

(32)

where wmin and wmax are given constants.

maximum allowable DC current density in a wire:

jM(k)

idc
j

wk max ,

k = 1, . . . , n,

(33)

where M(k) is the set of all indices of nodes downstream from resistor k, i.e., j M(k) if
and only if Rk is in the path from node j to the root, and max is a given constant.
86

 maximum allowable total DC power dissipation in supply network:

n
X

k=1

Rk

jM(k)

Pmax ,
idc
j

(34)

where Pmax is a given constant.

These specifications must be satisfied for all possible ik (t) that satisfy (27).
Formulate this as a convex optimization problem in the standard form
minimize f0 (x)
subject to fi (x) 0,
Ax = b.

i = 1, . . . , p

You may introduce new variables, or use a change of variables, but you must say very clearly
what the optimization variable x is, and how it corresponds to the problem variables w (i.e.,
is x equal to w, does it include auxiliary variables, . . . ?)
what the objective f0 and the constraint functions fi are, and how they relate to the objectives
and specifications of the problem description
why the objective and constraint functions are convex
what A and b are (if applicable).

11.3 Optimal amplifier gains. We consider a system of n amplifiers connected (for simplicity) in a chain,
as shown below. The variables that we will optimize over are the gains a1 , . . . , an > 0 of the
amplifiers. The first specification is that the overall gain of the system, i.e., the product a1 an ,
is equal to Atot , which is given.

a1

a2

an

We are concerned about two effects: noise generated by the amplifiers, and amplifier overload.
These effects are modeled as follows.
We first describe how the noise depends on the amplifier gains. Let Ni denote the noise level (RMS,
or root-mean-square) at the output of the ith amplifier. These are given recursively as
N0 = 0,

2
+ i2
Ni = ai Ni1

1/2

i = 1, . . . , n

where i > 0 (which is given) is the (input-referred) RMS noise level of the ith amplifier. The
output noise level Nout of the system is given by Nout = Nn , i.e., the noise level of the last amplifier.
Evidently Nout depends on the gains a1 , . . . , an .

87

Now we describe the amplifier overload limits. Si will denote the signal level at the output of the
ith amplifier. These signal levels are related by
S0 = Sin ,

Si = ai Si1 ,

i = 1, . . . , n,

where Sin > 0 is the input signal level. Each amplifier has a maximum allowable output level
Mi > 0 (which is given). (If this level is exceeded the amplifier will distort the signal.) Thus we
have the constraints Si Mi , for i = 1, . . . , n. (We can ignore the noise in the overload condition,
since the signal levels are much larger than the noise levels.)
The maximum output signal level Smax is defined as the maximum value of Sn , over all input signal
levels Sin that respect the the overload constraints Si Mi . Of course Smax Mn , but it can be
smaller, depending on the gains a1 , . . . , an .
The dynamic range D of the system is defined as D = Smax /Nout . Evidently it is a (rather
complicated) function of the amplifier gains a1 , . . . , an .
The goal is to choose the gains ai to maximize the dynamic range D, subject to the constraint
Q
tot
max (which are given).
i ai = A , and upper bounds on the amplifier gains, ai Ai

Explain how to solve this problem as a convex (or quasiconvex) optimization problem. If you introduce new variables, or transform the variables, explain. Clearly give the objective and inequality
constraint functions, explaining why they are convex if it is not obvious. If your problem involves
equality constraints, give them explicitly.
Carry out your method on the specific instance with n = 4, and data
Atot = 10000,
= (105 , 102 , 102 , 102 ),
M

= (0.1, 5, 10, 10),

max

= (40, 40, 40, 20).

Give the optimal gains, and the optimal dynamic range.

11.4 Blending existing circuit designs. In circuit design, we must select the widths of a set of n components, given by the vector w = (w1 , . . . , wn ), which must satisfy width limits
W min wi W max ,

i = 1, . . . , n,

where W min and W max are given (positive) values. (You can assume there are no other constraints
on w.) The design is judged by three objectives, each of which we would like to be small: the
circuit power P (w), the circuit delay D(w), and the total circuit area A(w). These three objectives
are (complicated) posynomial functions of w.
You do not know the functions P , D, or A. (That is, you do not know the coefficients or exponents
in the posynomial expressions.) You do know a set of k designs, given by w(1) , . . . , w(k) Rn , and
their associated objective values
P (w(j) ),

D(w(j) ),

A(w(j) ),

j = 1, . . . , k.

You can assume that these designs satisfy the width limits. The goal is to find a design w that
satisfies the width limits, and the design specifications
P (w) Pspec ,

D(w) Dspec ,
88

A(w) Aspec ,

where Pspec , Dspec , and Aspec are given.

Now consider the specific data given in blend_design_data.m. Give the following.
A feasible design (i.e., w) that satisfies the specifications.

A clear argument as to how you know that your design satisfies the specifications, even though
you do not know the formulas for P , D, and A.
Your method for finding w, including any code that you write.
Hints/comments.
You do not need to know anything about circuit design to solve this problem.

See the title of this problem.

89

12

Signal processing and communications

12.1 FIR low-pass filter design. Consider the (symmetric, linear phase) finite impulse response (FIR)
filter described by its frequency response
H() = a0 +

N
X

ak cos k,

k=1

where [0, ] is the frequency. The design variables in our problems are the real coefficients
a = (a0 , . . . , aN ) RN +1 , where N is called the order or length of the FIR filter. In this problem
we will explore the design of a low-pass filter, with specifications:
For 0 /3, 0.89 H() 1.12, i.e., the filter has about 1dB ripple in the passband
[0, /3].
For c , |H()| . In other words, the filter achieves an attenuation given by in
the stopband [c , ]. Here c is called the filter cutoff frequency.
(It is called a low-pass filter since low frequencies are allowed to pass, but frequencies above the
cutoff frequency are attenuated.) These specifications are depicted graphically in the figure below.

H()

1.12
1.00
0.89

0
0

/3

For parts (a)(c), explain how to formulate the given problem as a convex or quasiconvex optimization problem.
(a) Maximum stopband attenuation. We fix c and N , and wish to maximize the stopband attenuation, i.e., minimize .
(b) Minimum transition band. We fix N and , and want to minimize c , i.e., we set the stopband
attenuation and filter length, and wish to minimize the transition band (between /3 and
c ).
(c) Shortest length filter. We fix c and , and wish to find the smallest N that can meet the
specifications, i.e., we seek the shortest length FIR filter that can meet the specifications.

90

(d) Numerical filter design. Use CVX to find the shortest length filter that satisfies the filter
specifications with
c = 0.4, = 0.0316.
(The attenuation corresponds to 30dB.) For this subproblem, you may sample the constraints
in frequency, which means the following. Choose K large (say, 500; an old rule of thumb is that
K should be at least 15N ), and set k = k/K, k = 0, . . . , K. Then replace the specifications
with
For k with 0 k /3, 0.89 H(k ) 1.12.
For k with c k , |H(k )| .

Plot H() versus for your design.

12.2 SINR maximization. Solve the following instance of problem 4.20: We have n = 5 transmitters,
grouped into two groups: {1, 2} and {3, 4, 5}. The maximum power for each transmitter is 3, the
total power limit for the first group is 4, and the total power limit for the second group is 6. The
noise is equal to 0.5 and the limit on total received power is 5 for each receiver. Finally, the path
gain matrix is given by

1.0 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.0

0.1 1.0 0.1 0.1 0.0

G = 0.2 0.1 2.0 0.2 0.2 .

0.1 0.1 0.2 1.0 0.1

0.0 0.0 0.2 0.1 1.0
Find the transmitter powers p1 , . . . , p5 that maximize the minimum SINR ratio over all receivers.
Also report the maximum SINR value. Solving the problem to an accuracy of 0.05 (in SINR) is
fine.
Hint. When implementing a bisection method in CVX, you will need to check feasibility of a convex
problem. You can do this using strcmpi(cvx_status, Solved).
12.3 Power control for sum rate maximization in interference channel. We consider the optimization
problem
!
n
X
pi
log 1 + P
maximize
j6=i Aij pj + vi
i=1
subject to

n
X

pi = 1

i=1

pi 0,

i = 1, . . . , n

with variables p Rn . The problem data are the matrix A Rnn and the vector v Rn .
We assume A and v are componentwise nonnegative (Aij 0 and vi 0), and that the diagonal
elements of A are equal to one. If the off-diagonal elements of A are zero (A = I), the problem
has a simple solution, given by the waterfilling method. We are interested in the case where the
off-diagonal elements are nonzero.
We can give the following interpretation of the problem, which is not needed below. The variables
in the problem are the transmission powers in a communications system. We limit the total power
to one (for simplicity; we could have used any other number). The ith term in the objective is

91

the Shannon capacity of the ith channel; the fraction in the argument of the log is the signal to
interference plus noise ratio.
We can express the problem as
maximize
subject to

n
X

i=1
n
X

log

Pn

j=1 Bij pj

Pn

j=1 Bij pj

pi

pi = 1

(35)

i=1

pi 0, i = 1, . . . , n,
where B Rnn is defined as B = A + v1T , i.e., Bij = Aij + vi , i, j = 1, . . . , n. Suppose B is
nonsingular and
B 1 = I C
with Cij 0. Express the problem above as a convex optimization problem. Hint. Use y = Bp as
variables.
12.4 Radio-relay station placement and power allocation. Radio relay stations are to be located at positions x1 , . . . , xn R2 , and transmit at power p1 , . . . , pn 0. In this problem we will consider the
problem of simultaneously deciding on good locations and operating powers for the relay stations.
The received signal power Sij at relay station i from relay station j is proportional to the transmit
power and inversely proportional to the distance, i.e.,
Sij =

pj
,
kxi xj k2

where > 0 is a known constant.

Relay station j must transmit a signal to relay station i at the rate (or bandwidth) Rij 0 bits
per second; Rij = 0 means that relay station j does not need to transmit any message (directly)
to relay station i. The matrix of bit rates Rij is given. Although it doesnt affect the problem, R
would likely be sparse, i.e., each relay station needs to communicate with only a few others.
To guarantee accurate reception of the signal from relay station j to i, we must have
Sij Rij ,
where > 0 is a known constant. (In other words, the minimum allowable received signal power
is proportional to the signal bit rate or bandwidth.)
The relay station positions xr+1 , . . . , xn are fixed, i.e., problem parameters. The problem variables
are x1 , . . . , xr and p1 , . . . , pn . The goal is to choose the variables to minimize the total transmit
power, i.e., p1 + + pn .
Explain how to solve this problem as a convex or quasiconvex optimization problem. If you introduce new variables, or transform the variables, explain. Clearly give the objective and inequality
constraint functions, explaining why they are convex. If your problem involves equality constraints,
express them using an affine function.

92

12.5 Power allocation with coherent combining receivers. In this problem we consider a variation on
the power allocation problem described on pages 4-13 and 4-14 of the notes. In that problem we
have m transmitters, each of which transmits (broadcasts) to n receivers, so the total number of
receivers is mn. In this problem we have the converse: multiple transmitters send a signal to each
receiver.
More specifically we have m receivers labeled 1, . . . , m, and mn transmitters labeled (j, k), j =
1, . . . , m, k = 1, . . . , n. The transmitters (i, 1), . . . , (i, n) all transmit the same message to the
receiver i, for i = 1, . . . , m.
Transmitter (j, k) operates at power pjk , which must satisfy 0 pjk Pmax , where Pmax is a given
maximum allowable transmitter power.
The path gain from transmitter (j, k) to receiver i is Aijk > 0 (which are given and known). Thus
the power received at receiver i from transmitter (j, k) is given by Aijk pjk .
For i 6= j, the received power Aijk pjk represents an interference signal. The total interference-plusnoise power at receiver i is given by
X

Ii =

Aijk pjk +

j6=i, k=1,...,n

where > 0 is the known, given (self) noise power of the receivers. Note that the powers of the
interference and noise signals add to give the total interference-plus-noise power.
The receivers use coherent detection and combining of the desired message signals, which means
the effective received signal power at receiver i is given by

Si =

k=1,...,n

(Aiik pik )1/2 .

(Thus, the amplitudes of the desired signals add to give the effective signal amplitude.)
The total signal to interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for receiver i is given by i = Si /Ii .
The problem is to choose transmitter powers pjk that maximize the minimum SINR mini i , subject
to the power limits.
Explain in detail how to solve this problem using convex or quasiconvex optimization. If you
transform the problem by using a different set of variables, explain completely. Identify the objective
function, and all constraint functions, indicating if they are convex or quasiconvex, etc.
12.6 Antenna array weight design. We consider an array of n omnidirectional antennas in a plane, at
positions (xk , yk ), k = 1, . . . , n.

(xk , yk )

93

A unit plane wave with frequency is incident from an angle . This incident wave
induces in
the kth antenna element a (complex) signal exp(i(xk cos + yk sin t)), where i = 1. (For
simplicity we assume that the spatial units are normalized so that the wave number is one, i.e., the
wavelength is = 2.) This signal is demodulated, i.e., multiplied by eit , to obtain the baseband
signal (complex number) exp(i(xk cos + yk sin )). The baseband signals of the n antennas are
combined linearly to form the output of the antenna array
G() =
=

n
X

k=1
n
X

k=1

wk ei(xk cos +yk sin )

(wre,k cos k () wim,k sin k ()) + i (wre,k sin k () + wim,k cos k ()) ,

if we define k () = xk cos + yk sin . The complex weights in the linear combination,

wk = wre,k + iwim,k ,

k = 1, . . . , n,

are called the antenna array coefficients or shading coefficients, and will be the design variables
in the problem. For a given set of weights, the combined output G() is a function of the angle
of arrival of the plane wave. The design problem is to select weights wi that achieve a desired
directional pattern G().
We now describe a basic weight design problem. We require unit gain in a target direction tar ,
i.e., G(tar ) = 1. We want |G()| small for | tar | , where 2 is our beamwidth. To do this,
we can minimize
max
|G()|,
tar
|

where the maximum is over all [, ] with | tar | . This number is called the sidelobe
level for the array; our goal is to minimize the sidelobe level. If we achieve a small sidelobe level,
then the array is relatively insensitive to signals arriving from directions more than away from
the target direction. This results in the optimization problem
minimize max|tar | |G()|
subject to G(tar ) = 1,
with w Cn as variables.

The objective function can be approximated by discretizing the angle of arrival with (say) N values
(say, uniformly spaced) 1 , . . . , N over the interval [, ], and replacing the objective with
max{|G(k )| | |k tar | }
(a) Formulate the antenna array weight design problem as an SOCP.
(b) Solve an instance using CVX, with n = 40, tar = 15 , = 15 , N = 400, and antenna
positions generated using
rand(state,0);
n = 40;
x = 30 * rand(n,1);
y = 30 * rand(n,1);
94

Compute the optimal weights and make a plot of |G()| (on a logarithmic scale) versus .
Hint. CVX can directly handle complex variables, and recognizes the modulus abs(x) of a
complex number as a convex function of its real and imaginary parts, so you do not need to
explicitly form the SOCP from part (a). Even more compactly, you can use norm(x,Inf)
with complex argument.
12.7 Power allocation problem with analytic solution. Consider a system of n transmitters and n receivers. The ith transmitter transmits with power xi , i = 1, . . . , n. The vector x will be the variable
in this problem. The path gain from each transmitter j to each receiver i will be denoted Aij and
is assumed to be known (obviously, Aij 0, so the matrix A is elementwise nonnegative, and
Aii > 0). The signal received by each receiver i consists of three parts: the desired signal, arriving
from transmitter i with power Aii xi , the interfering signal, arriving from the other receivers with
P
power j6=i Aij xj , and noise i (which are positive and known). We are interested in allocating
the powers xi in such a way that the signal to noise plus interference ratio at each of the receivers
exceeds a level . (Thus is the minimum acceptable SNIR for the receivers; a typical value
might be around = 3, i.e., around 10dB). In other words, we want to find x  0 such that for
i = 1, . . . , n

Aii xi

Equivalently, the vector x has to satisfy

X
j6=i

Aij xj + i .

x  0, Bx 

(36)

where B Rnn is defined as

Bii = Aii , Bij = Aij , j 6= i.
(a) Show that (36) is feasible if and only if B is invertible and z = B 1 1  0 (1 is the vector with
all components 1). Show how to construct a feasible power allocation x from z.
(b) Show how to find the largest possible SNIR, i.e., how to maximize subject to the existence
of a feasible power allocation.
To solve this problem you may need the following:
Hint. Let T Rnn be a matrix with nonnegative elements, and s R. Then the following are
equivalent:
(a) s > (T ), where (T ) = maxi |i (T )| is the spectral radius of T .

(b) sI T is nonsingular and the matrix (sI T )1 has nonnegative elements.

(c) there exists an x  0 with (sI T )x 0.

(For such s, the matrix sI T is called a nonsingular M-matrix.)

Remark. This problem gives an analytic solution to a very special form of transmitter power
allocation problem. Specifically, there are exactly as many transmitters as receivers, and no power
limits on the transmitters. One consequence is that the receiver noises i play no role at all in the
solution just crank up all the transmitters to overpower the noises!
95

12.8 Optimizing rates and time slot fractions. We consider a wireless system that uses time-domain
multiple access (TDMA) to support n communication flows. The flows have (nonnegative) rates
r1 , . . . , rn , given in bits/sec. To support a rate ri on flow i requires transmitter power
p = ai (ebr 1),
where b is a (known) positive constant, and ai are (known) positive constants related to the noise
power and gain of receiver i.
TDMA works like this. Time is divided up into periods of some fixed duration T (seconds). Each
of these T -long periods is divided into n time-slots, with durations t1 , . . . , tn , that must satisfy
t1 + + tn = T , ti 0. In time-slot i, communications flow i is transmitted at an instantaneous
rate r = T ri /ti , so that over each T -long period, T ri bits from flow i are transmitted. The power
required during time-slot i is ai (ebT ri /ti 1), so the average transmitter power over each T -long
period is
P = (1/T )

n
X
i=1

ai ti (ebT ri /ti 1).

When ti is zero, we take P = if ri > 0, and P = 0 if ri = 0. (The latter corresponds to the case
when there is zero flow, and also, zero time allocated to the flow.)
The problem is to find rates r Rn and time-slot durations t Rn that maximize the log utility
function
n
U (r) =

log ri ,

i=1

subject to P P max . (This utility function is often used to ensure fairness; each communication
flow gets at least some positive rate.) The problem data are ai , b, T and P max ; the variables are ti
and ri .
(a) Formulate this problem as a convex optimization problem. Feel free to introduce new variables,
if needed, or to change variables. Be sure to justify convexity of the objective or constraint
functions in your formulation.
(b) Give the optimality conditions for your formulation. Of course we prefer simpler optimality
conditions to complex ones. Note: We do not expect you to solve the optimality conditions;
you can give them as a set of equations (and possibly inequalities).
Hint. With a log utility function, we cannot have ri = 0, and therefore we cannot have ti = 0;
therefore the constraints ri 0 and ti 0 cannot be active or tight. This will allow you to simplify
the optimality conditions.
12.9 Optimal jamming power allocation. A set of n jammers transmit with (nonnegative) powers
p1 , . . . , pn , which are to be chosen subject to the constraints
p  0,

F p  g.

The jammers produce interference power at m receivers, given by

di =

n
X

Gij pj ,

j=1

96

i = 1, . . . , m,

where Gij is the (nonnegative) channel gain from jammer j to receiver i.

Receiver i has capacity (in bits/s) given by
Ci = log(1 + i /(i2 + di )),

i = 1, . . . , m,

where , i , and i are positive constants. (Here i is proportional to the signal power at receiver
i and i2 is the receiver i self-noise, but you wont need to know this to solve the problem.)
Explain how to choose p to minimize the sum channel capacity, C = C1 + + Cm , using convex
optimization. (This corresponds to the most effective jamming, given the power constraints.) The
problem data are F , g, G, , i , i .
If you change variables, or transform your problem in any way that is not obvious (for example, you
form a relaxation), you must explain fully how your method works, and why it gives the solution.
If your method relies on any convex functions that we have not encountered before, you must show
that the functions are convex.
Disclaimer. The teaching staff does not endorse jamming, optimal or otherwise.
12.10 2D filter design. A symmetric convolution kernel with support {(N 1), . . . , N 1}2 is characterized by N 2 coefficients
hkl , k, l = 1, . . . , N.
These coefficients will be our variables. The corresponding 2D frequency response (Fourier transform) H : R2 R is given by
H(1 , 2 ) =

k,l=1,...,N

hkl cos((k 1)1 ) cos((l 1)2 ),

where 1 and 2 are the frequency variables. Evidently we only need to specify H over the region
[0, ]2 , although it is often plotted over the region [, ]2 . (It wont matter in this problem, but
we should mention that the coefficients hkl above are not exactly the same as the impulse response
coefficients of the filter.)
We will design a 2D filter (i.e., find the coefficients hkl ) to satisfy H(0, 0) = 1 and to minimize the
maximum response R in the rejection region rej [0, ]2 ,
R=

sup
(1 ,2 )rej

|H(1 , 2 )|.

(a) Explain why this 2D filter design problem is convex.

(b) Find the optimal filter for the specific case with N = 5 and
rej = {(1 , 2 ) [0, ]2 | 12 + 22 W 2 },
with W = /4.
You can approximate R by sampling on a grid of frequency values. Define
(p) = (p 1)/M,

p = 1, . . . , M.

(You can use M = 25.) We then replace the exact expression for R above with
= max{|H( (p) , (q) )| | p, q = 1, . . . , M, ( (p) , (q) ) rej }.
R

Plot the optimal frequency response using plot_2D_filt(h),

Give the optimal value of R.
available on the course web site, where h is the matrix containing the coefficients hkl .
97

12.11 Maximizing log utility in a wireless system with interference. Consider a wireless network consisting
of n data links, labeled 1, . . . , n. Link i transmits with power Pi > 0, and supports a data rate
Ri = log(1 + i ), where i is the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). These SINR ratios
depend on the transmit powers, as described below.
nn
The system is characterized by the link gain matrix G R++
, where Gij is the gain from the
transmitter on link j to the receiver for link i. The received signal power for link i is Gii Pi ; the
noise plus interference power for link i is given by

i2 +

Gij Pj ,

j6=i

where i2 > 0 is the receiver noise power for link i. The SINR is the ratio
i =

i2

Gii Pi
.
+ j6=i Gij Pj
P

The problem is to choose the transmit powers P1 , . . . , Pn , subject to 0 < Pi Pimax , in order to
maximize the log utility function
U (P ) =

n
X

log Ri .

i=1

(This utility function can be argued to yield a fair distribution of rates.) The data are G, i2 , and
Pimax .
Formulate this problem as a convex or quasiconvex optimization problem. If you make any transformations or use any steps that are not obvious, explain.
Hints.
The function log log(1 + ex ) is concave. (If you use this fact, you must show it.)

You might find the new variables defined by zi = log Pi useful.

12.12 Spectral factorization via semidefinite programming. A Toeplitz matrix is a matrix that has constant
values on its diagonals. We use the notation

x1
x2
x3
..
.

Tm (x1 , . . . , xm ) =

xm1

xm

x2
x1
x2
..
.

x3
x2
x1
..
.

xm2 xm2
xm1 xm2

xm1 xm
xm2 xm1
xm3 xm2
..
..
..
.
.
.

x1
x2

x2
x1

to denote the symmetric Toeplitz matrix in Smm constructed from x1 , . . . , xm . Consider the
semidefinite program
minimize cT x
subject to Tn (x1 , . . . , xn )  e1 eT1 ,
with variable x = (x1 , . . . , xn ), where e1 = (1, 0, . . . , 0).

98

(a) Derive the dual of the SDP above. Denote the dual variable as Z. (Hence Z Sn and the
dual constraints include an inequality Z  0.)

(b) Show that Tn (x1 , . . . , xn ) 0 for every feasible x in the SDP above. You can do this by
induction on n.
For n = 1, the constraint is x1 1 which obviously implies x1 > 0.
In the induction step, assume n 2 and that Tn1 (x1 , . . . , xn1 ) 0. Use a Schur
complement argument and the Toeplitz structure of Tn to show that Tn (x1 , . . . , xn )  e1 eT1
implies Tn (x1 , . . . , xn ) 0.

(c) Suppose the optimal value of the SDP above is finite and attained, and that Z is dual optimal.
Use the result of part (b) to show that the rank of Z is at most one, i.e., Z can be expressed
as Z = yy T for some n-vector y. Show that y satisfies
y12 + y22 + + yn2 = c1

y1 y2 + y2 y3 + + yn1 yn = c2 /2
..
.
y1 yn1 + y2 yn = cn1 /2
y1 yn = cn /2.
This can be expressed as an identity |Y ()|2 = R() between two functions
Y () = y1 + y2 ei + y3 e3i + + yn ei(n1)
(with i =
R().

R() = c1 + c2 cos + c3 cos(2) + + cn cos((n 1))

1). The function Y () is called a spectral factor of the trigonometric polynomial

99

13

Finance

13.1 Transaction cost. Consider a market for some asset or commodity, which we assume is infinitely
divisible, i.e., can be bought or sold in quantities of shares that are real numbers (as opposed to
integers). The order book at some time consists of a set of offers to sell or buy the asset, at a given
price, up to a given quantity of shares. The N offers to sell the asset have positive prices per share
sell
sell
sell
psell
1 , . . . , pN , sorted in increasing order, in positive share quantities q1 , . . . , qN . The M offers to
buy
buy
buy the asset have positive prices p1 , . . . , pN , sorted in decreasing order, and positive quantities
buy
is called the (current) ask price for the asset; pbuy
is the bid price
. The price psell
q1buy , . . . , qM
1
1
for the asset. The ask price is larger than the bid price; the difference is called the spread. The
average of the ask and bid prices is called the mid-price, denoted pmid .
sell , i.e.,
Now suppose that you want to purchase q > 0 shares of the asset, where q q1sell + + qN
your purchase quantity does not exceed the total amount of the asset currently offered for sale.
Your purchase proceeds as follows. Suppose that
sell
.
q1sell + + qksell < q q1sell + + qk+1

Then you pay an amount

sell
sell sell
sell
sell
sell
A = psell
1 q1 + + pk qk + pk+1 (q q1 qk ).

Roughly speaking, you work your way through the offers in the order book, from the least (ask)
price, and working your way up the order book until you fill the order. We define the transaction
cost as
T (q) = A pmid q.
This is the difference between what you pay, and what you would have paid had you been able to
purchase the shares at the mid-price. It is always positive.
We handle the case of selling the asset in a similar way. Here we take q < 0 to mean that we sell q
shares of the asset. Here you sell shares at the bid price, up to the quantity q buy (or q, whichever
is smaller); if needed, you sell shares at the price pbuy
2 , and so on, until all q shares are sold. Here
buy
buy
we assume that q q1 + + qM , i.e., you are not selling more shares than the total quantity
of offers to buy. Let A denote the amount you receive from the sale. Here we define the transaction
cost as
T (q) = pmid q A,
the difference between the amount you would have received had you sold the shares at the mid-price,
and the amount you received. It is always positive. We set T (0) = 0.
(a) Show that T is a convex piecewise linear function.
(b) Show that T (q) (s/2)|q|, where s is the spread. When would we have T (q) = (s/2)|q| for
all q (in the range between the total shares offered to purchase or sell)?
(c) Give an interpretation of the conjugate function T (y) = supq (yq T (q)). Hint. Suppose you
can purchase or sell the asset in another market, at the price pother .

100

13.2 Risk-return trade-off in portfolio optimization. We consider the portfolio risk-return trade-off problem of page 185, with the following data:

p =

0.12
0.10
0.07
0.03

0.0064 0.0008 0.0011 0

0.0008 0.0025
0
0

.
0.0011
0
0.0004 0
0
0
0
0

(a) Solve the quadratic program

minimize
pT x + xT x
T
subject to 1 x = 1, x  0
for a large number of positive values of (for example, 100 values logarithmically spaced
between 1 and 107 ). Plot the optimal values of the expected return pT x versus the standard
deviation (xT x)1/2 . Also make an area plot of the optimal portfolios x versus the standard
deviation (as in figure 4.12).
(b) Assume the price change vector p is a Gaussian random variable, with mean p and covariance
. Formulate the problem
maximize pT x
subject to prob(pT x 0)
1T x = 1, x  0,
as a convex optimization problem, where < 1/2 is a parameter. In this problem we maximize
the expected return subject to a constraint on the probability of a negative return. Solve the
problem for a large number of values of between 104 and 101 , and plot the optimal values
of pT x versus . Also make an area plot of the optimal portfolios x versus .
Hint: The Matlab functions erfc and erfcinv can be used to evaluate
Z x

2
et /2 dt
(x) = (1/ 2)

and its inverse:

1
(u) = erfc(u/ 2).
2
Since you will have to solve this problem for a large number of values of , you may find the
command cvx_quiet(true) helpful.

(c) Monte Carlo simulation. Let x be the optimal portfolio found in part (b), with = 0.05.
This portfolio maximizes the expected return, subject to the probability of a loss being no
more than 5%. Generate 10000 samples of p, and plot a histogram of the returns. Find the
empirical mean of the return samples, and calculate the percentage of samples for which a loss
occurs.
Hint: You can generate samples of the price change vector using
p=pbar+sqrtm(Sigma)*randn(4,1);
13.3 Simple portfolio optimization. We consider a portfolio optimization problem as described on pages
155 and 185186 of Convex Optimization, with data that can be found in the file simple_portfolio_data.m.
101

(a) Find minimum-risk portfolios with the same expected return as the uniform portfolio (x =
(1/n)1), with risk measured by portfolio return variance, and the following portfolio constraints (in addition to 1T x = 1):
No (additional) constraints.
Long-only: x  0.
Limit on total short position: 1T (x ) 0.5, where (x )i = max{xi , 0}.

Compare the optimal risk in these portfolios with each other and the uniform portfolio.
(b) Plot the optimal risk-return trade-off curves for the long-only portfolio, and for total shortposition limited to 0.5, in the same figure. Follow the style of figure 4.12 (top), with horizontal
axis showing standard deviation of portfolio return, and vertical axis showing mean return.
13.4 Bounding portfolio risk with incomplete covariance information. Consider the following instance of
the problem described in 4.6, on p171173 of Convex Optimization. We suppose that ii , which
are the squares of the price volatilities of the assets, are known. For the off-diagonal entries of ,
all we know is the sign (or, in some cases, nothing at all). For example, we might be given that
12 0, 23 0, etc. This means that we do not know the correlation between p1 and p2 , but we
do know that they are nonnegatively correlated (i.e., the prices of assets 1 and 2 tend to rise or
fall together).
Compute wc , the worst-case variance of the portfolio return, for the specific case

x=

0.1
0.2
0.05
0.1

0.2 +
+

+ 0.1

,
=
+
0.3 +

+ 0.1

where a + entry means that the element is nonnegative, a means the entry is nonpositive,
and means we dont know anything about the entry. (The negative value in x represents a
short position: you sold stocks that you didnt have, but must produce at the end of the investment
period.) In addition to wc , give the covariance matrix wc associated with the maximum risk.
Compare the worst-case risk with the risk obtained when is diagonal.
13.5 Log-optimal investment strategy. In this problem you will solve a specific instance of the log-optimal
investment problem described in exercise 4.60, with n = 5 assets and m = 10 possible outcomes in
each period. The problem data are defined in log_opt_invest.m, with the rows of the matrix P
giving the asset return vectors pTj . The outcomes are equiprobable, i.e., we have j = 1/m. Each
column of the matrix P gives the return of the associated asset in the different posible outcomes.
You can examine the columns to get an idea of the types of assets. For example, the last asset gives
a fixed and certain return of 1%; the first asset is a very risky one, with occasional large return,
and (more often) substantial loss.
. Compare
Find the log-optimal investment strategy x , and its associated long term growth rate Rlt
this to the long term growth rate obtained with a uniform allocation strategy, i.e., x = (1/n)1, and
also with a pure investment in each asset.

For the optimal investment strategy, and also the uniform investment strategy, plot 10 sample
Q
trajectories of the accumulated wealth, i.e., W (T ) = W (0) Tt=1 (t), for T = 0, . . . , 200, with
initial wealth W (0) = 1.
102

To save you the trouble of figuring out how to simulate the wealth trajectories or plot them nicely,
weve included the simulation and plotting code in log_opt_invest.m; you just have to add the
code needed to find x .
Hint: The current version of CVX handles the logarithm via an iterative method, which can be
slow and unreliable. Youre better off using geo_mean(), which is directly handled by CVX, to
solve the problem.
13.6 Optimality conditions and dual for log-optimal investment problem.
(a) Show that the optimality conditions for the log-optimal investment problem described in
exercise 4.60 can be expressed as: 1T x = 1, x  0, and for each i,
m
X

pij
j T = 1,
xi > 0
pj x
j=1

xi = 0

m
X

j=1

pij
1.
pTj x

We can interpret this as follows. pij /pTj x is a random variable, which gives the ratio of the
investment gain with asset i only, to the investment gain with our mixed portfolio x. The
optimality condition is that, for each asset we invest in, the expected value of this ratio is one,
and for each asset we do not invest in, the expected value cannot exceed one. Very roughly
speaking, this means our portfolio does as well as any of the assets that we choose to invest
in, and cannot do worse than any assets that we do not invest in.
Hint. You can start from the simple criterion given in 4.2.3 or the KKT conditions.

(b) In this part we will derive the dual of the log-optimal investment problem. We start by writing
the problem as
P
minimize m
j=1 j log yj
subject to y = P T x, x  0, 1T x = 1.
Here, P has columns p1 , . . . , pm , and we have the introduced new variables y1 , . . . , ym , with
the implicit constraint y 0. We will associate dual variables , and 0 with the constraints
y = P T x, x  0, and 1T x = 1, respectively. Defining j = j /0 for j = 1, . . . , m, show that
the dual problem can be written as
m
j /j )
maximize
j=1 j log(
subject to P  1,

with variable . The objective here is the (negative) Kullback-Leibler divergence between the
given distribution and the dual variable .
13.7 Arbitrage and theorems of alternatives. Consider an event (for example, a sports game, political
elections, the evolution of the stock market over a certain period) with m possible outcomes.
Suppose that n wagers on the outcome are possible. If we bet an amount xj on wager j, and the
outcome of the event is i (i = 1, . . . , m), then our return will be equal to rij xj . The return rij xj is
the net gain: we pay xj initially, and receive (1 + rij )xj if the outcome of the event is i. We allow
the bets xj to be positive, negative, or zero. The interpretation of a negative bet is as follows. If
xj < 0, then initially we receive an amount of money |xj |, with an obligation to pay (1 + rij )|xj | if
outcome i occurs. In that case, we lose rij |xj |, i.e., our net is gain rij xj (a negative number).
We call the matrix R Rmn with elements rij the return matrix. A betting strategy is a vector
x Rn , with as components xj the amounts we bet on each wager. If we use a betting strategy
103

Country
Holland
Italy
Spain
France
Germany
England
Belgium
Sweden

Odds
3.5
5.0
5.5
6.5
7.0
10.0
14.0
16.0

Country
Czech Republic
Romania
Yugoslavia
Portugal
Norway
Denmark
Turkey
Slovenia

Odds
17.0
18.0
20.0
20.0
20.0
33.0
50.0
80.0

Table 1: Odds for the 2000 European soccer championships.

x, our total return in the event of outcome i is equal to
vector Rx.

Pn

j=1 rij xj ,

i.e., the ith component of the

(a) The arbitrage theorem. Suppose you are given a return matrix R. Prove the following theorem:
there is a betting strategy x Rn for which
Rx 0
if and only if there exists no vector p Rm that satisfies
RT p = 0,

p  0,

p 6= 0.

We can interpret this theorem as follows. If Rx 0, then the betting strategy x guarantees a
positive return for all possible outcomes, i.e., it is a sure-win betting scheme. In economics,
we say there is an arbitrage opportunity.
If we normalize the vector p in the second condition, so that 1T p = 1, we can interpret it as
a probability vector on the outcomes. The condition RT p = 0 means that
E Rx = pT Rx = 0
for all x, i.e., the expected return is zero for all betting strategies. In economics, p is called a
risk neutral probability.
We can therefore rephrase the arbitrage theorem as follows: There is no sure-win betting
strategy (or arbitrage opportunity) if and only if there is a probability vector on the outcomes
that makes all bets fair (i.e., the expected gain is zero).
(b) Betting. In a simple application, we have exactly as many wagers as there are outcomes
(n = m). Wager i is to bet that the outcome will be i. The returns are usually expressed as
odds. For example, suppose that a bookmaker accepts bets on the result of the 2000 European
soccer championships. If the odds against Belgium winning are 14 to one, and we bet $100 on
Belgium, then we win $1400 if they win the tournament, and we lose $100 otherwise.
In general, if we have m possible outcomes, and the odds against outcome i are i to one,
then the return matrix R Rmm is given by
rij = i if j = i
rij = 1 otherwise.
104

Show that there is no sure-win betting scheme (or arbitrage opportunity) if

m
X
i=1

1
= 1.
1 + i

In fact, you can verify that if this equality is not satisfied, then the betting strategy
xi =

1/(1 + i )
1 i=1 1/(1 + i )
Pm

always results in a profit.

The common situation in real life is
m
X
i=1

1
> 1,
1 + i

because the bookmakers take a cut on all bets.

13.8 Log-optimal investment. We consider an instance of the log-optimal investment problem described
in exercise 4.60 of Convex Optimization. In this exercise, however, we allow x, the allocation vector,
to have negative components. Investing a negative amount xi W (t) in an asset is called shorting
the asset. It means you borrow the asset, sell it for |xi W (t)|, and have an obligation to purchase it
back later and return it to the lender.
(a) Let R be the n m-matrix with columns rj :
R=

r 1 r 2 rm

We assume that the elements rij of R are all positive, which implies that the log-optimal
investment problem is feasible. Show the following property: if there exists a v Rn with
1T v = 0,

RT v  0,

RT v 6= 0

(37)

then the log-optimal investment problem is unbounded (assuming that the probabilities pj are
all positive).
(b) Derive a Lagrange dual of the log-optimal investment problem (or an equivalent problem of
your choice). Use the Lagrange dual to show that the condition in part a is also necessary for
unboundedness. In other words, the log-optimal investment problem is bounded if and only
if there does not exist a v satisfying (37).
(c) Consider the following small example. We have four scenarios and three investment options.
The return vectors for the four scenarios are

r1 = 1.3 ,
1

r2 = 0.5 ,
1

The probabilities of the three scenarios are

p1 = 1/3,

p2 = 1/6,
105

0.5

r3 = 1.3 ,
1
p3 = 1/3,

0.5

r4 = 0.5 .
1
p4 = 1/6.

The interpretation is as follows. We can invest in two stocks. The first stock doubles in value
in each period with a probability 1/2, or decreases by 50% with a probability 1/2. The second
stock either increases by 30% with a probability 2/3, or decreases by 50% with a probability
1/3. The fluctuations in the two stocks are independent, so we have four scenarios: both stocks
go up (probability 2/6), stock 1 goes up and stock 2 goes down (probability 1/6), stock 1 goes
down and stock 2 goes up (probability 1/3), both stocks go down (probability 1/6). The
fractions of our capital we invest in stocks 1 and 2 are denoted by x1 and x2 , respectively.
The rest of our capital, x3 = 1 x1 x2 is not invested.
What is the expected growth rate of the log-optimal strategy x? Compare with the strategies
(x1 , x2 , x3 ) = (1, 0, 0), (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = (0, 1, 0) and (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = (1/2, 1/2, 0). (Obviously the
expected growth rate for (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = (0, 0, 1) is zero.)
Remark. The figure below shows a simulation that compares three investment strategies over
200 periods. The solid line shows the log-optimal investment strategy. The dashed lines show
the growth for strategies x = (1, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0), and (0, 0, 1).
6

10

10

10

W (t)

10

10

10

10

10

50

100

150

200

250

t
13.9 Maximizing house profit in a gamble and imputed probabilities. A set of n participants bet on
which one of m outcomes, labeled 1, . . . , m, will occur. Participant i offers to purchase up to qi > 0
gambling contracts, at price pi > 0, that the true outcome will be in the set Si {1, . . . , m}. The
house then sells her xi contracts, with 0 xi qi . If the true outcome j is in Si , then participant
i receives $1 per contract, i.e., xi . Otherwise, she loses, and receives nothing. The house collects a
total of x1 p1 + + xn pn , and pays out an amount that depends on the outcome j,
X

xi .

i: jSi

The difference is the house profit.

106

(a) Optimal house strategy. How should the house decide on x so that its worst-case profit (over the
possible outcomes) is maximized? (The house determines x after examining all the participant
offers.)
(b) Imputed probabilities. Suppose x maximizes the worst-case house profit. Show that there
T
exists a probability distribution on the possible outcomes (i.e., Rm
+ , 1 = 1) for which

x also maximizes the expected house profit. Explain how to find .

Hint. Formulate the problem in part (a) as an LP; you can construct from optimal dual
variables for this LP.
P
will
Remark. Given , the fair price for offer i is pfair
= jSi j . All offers with pi > pfair
i
i
fair
be completely filled (i.e., xi = qi ); all offers with pi < pi will be rejected (i.e., xi = 0).
Remark. This exercise shows how the probabilities of outcomes (e.g., elections) can be guessed
from the offers of a set of gamblers.
(c) Numerical example. Carry out your method on the simple example below with n = 5 participants, m = 5 possible outcomes, and participant offers
Participant i
1
2
3
4
5

pi
0.50
0.60
0.60
0.60
0.20

qi
10
5
5
20
10

Si
{1,2}
{4}
{1,4,5}
{2,5}
{3}

Compare the optimal worst-case house profit with the worst-case house profit, if all offers were
accepted (i.e., xi = qi ). Find the imputed probabilities.
13.10 Optimal investment to fund an expense stream. An organization (such as a municipality) knows
its operating expenses over the next T periods, denoted E1 , . . . , ET . (Normally these are positive;
but we can have negative Et , which corresponds to income.) These expenses will be funded by a
combination of investment income, from a mixture of bonds purchased at t = 0, and a cash account.
The bonds generate investment income, denoted I1 , . . . , IT . The cash balance is denoted B0 , . . . , BT ,
where B0 0 is the amount of the initial deposit into the cash account. We can have Bt < 0 for
t = 1, . . . , T , which represents borrowing.
After paying for the expenses using investment income and cash, in period t, we are left with
Bt Et + It in cash. If this amount is positive, it earns interest at the rate r+ > 0; if it is negative,
we must pay interest at rate r , where r r+ . Thus the expenses, investment income, and cash
balances are linked as follows:
Bt+1 =

(1 + r+ )(Bt Et + It ) Bt Et + It 0
(1 + r )(Bt Et + It ) Bt Et + It < 0,

for t = 1, . . . , T 1. We take B1 = (1 + r+ )B0 , and we require that BT ET + IT = 0, which

means the final cash balance, plus income, exactly covers the final expense.
The initial investment will be a mixture of bonds, labeled 1, . . . , n. Bond i has a price Pi > 0,
a coupon payment Ci > 0, and a maturity Mi {1, . . . , T }. Bond i generates an income stream

107

given by
(i)

at =

Ci

t < Mi
C i + 1 t = Mi

0
t > Mi ,

for t = 1, . . . , T . If xi is the number of units of bond i purchased (at t = 0), the total investment
cash flow is
(1)
(n)
It = x1 at + + xn at , t = 1, . . . , T.
We will require xi 0. (The xi can be fractional; they do not need to be integers.)

The total initial investment required to purchase the bonds, and fund the initial cash balance at
t = 0, is x1 P1 + + xn Pn + B0 .
(a) Explain how to choose x and B0 to minimize the total initial investment required to fund the
expense stream.
(b) Solve the problem instance given in opt_funding_data.m. Give optimal values of x and B0 .
Give the optimal total initial investment, and compare it to the initial investment required if
no bonds were purchased (which would mean that all the expenses were funded from the cash
account). Plot the cash balance (versus period) with optimal bond investment, and with no
bond investment.
13.11 Planning production with uncertain demand. You must order (nonnegative) amounts rI , . . . , rm of
raw materials, which are needed to manufacture (nonnegative) quantities q1 , . . . , qn of n different
products. To manufacture one unit of product j requires at least Aij units of raw material i, so
we must have r  Aq. (We will assume that Aij are nonnegative.) The per-unit cost of the raw
T
materials is given by c Rm
+ , so the total raw material cost is c r.
The (nonnegative) demand for product j is denoted dj ; the number of units of product j sold is
sj = min{qj , dj }. (When qj > dj , qj dj is the amount of product j produced, but not sold; when
dj > qj , dj qj is the amount of unmet demand.) The revenue from selling the products is pT s,
where p Rn+ is the vector of product prices. The profit is pT s cT r. (Both d and q are real
vectors; their entries need not be integers.)
You are given A, c, and p. The product demand, however, is not known. Instead, a set of K
possible demand vectors, d(1) , . . . , d(K) , with associated probabilities 1 , . . . , K , is given. (These
satisfy 1T = 1,  0.)

You will explore two different optimization problems that arise in choosing r and q (the variables).
I. Choose r and q ahead of time. You must choose r and q, knowing only the data listed
above. (In other words, you must order the raw materials, and commit to producing the chosen
quantities of products, before you know the product demand.) The objective is to maximize the
expected profit.
II. Choose r ahead of time, and q after d is known. You must choose r, knowing only the
data listed above. Some time after you have chosen r, the demand will become known to you.
This means that you will find out which of the K demand vectors is the true demand. Once you
108

know this, you must choose the quantities to be manufactured. (In other words, you must order
the raw materials before the product demand is known; but you can choose the mix of products to
manufacture after you have learned the true product demand.) The objective is to maximize the
expected profit.
(a) Explain how to formulate each of these problems as a convex optimization problem. Clearly
state what the variables are in the problem, what the constraints are, and describe the roles
of any auxiliary variables or constraints you introduce.
(b) Carry out the methods from part (a) on the problem instance with numerical data given in
planning_data.m. This file will define A, D, K, c, m, n, p and pi. The K columns of D are the
possible demand vectors. For both of the problems described above, give the optimal value of
r, and the expected profit.
13.12 Gini coefficient of inequality. Let x1 , . . . , xn be a set of nonnegative numbers with positive sum,
which typically represent the wealth or income of n individuals in some group. The Lorentz curve
is a plot of the fraction fi of total wealth held by the i poorest individuals,
T

fi = (1/1 x)

i
X

x(j) ,

i = 0, . . . , n,

j=1

versus i/n, where x(j) denotes the jth smallest of the numbers {x1 , . . . , xn }, and we take f0 = 0.
The Lorentz curve starts at (0, 0) and ends at (1, 1). Interpreted as a continuous curve (as, say,
n ) the Lorentz curve is convex and increasing, and lies on or below the straight line joining
the endpoints. The curve coincides with this straight line, i.e., fi = (i/n), if and only if the wealth
is distributed equally, i.e., the xi are all equal.
The Gini coefficient is defined as twice the area between the straight line corresponding to uniform
wealth distribution and the Lorentz curve:
G(x) = (2/n)

n
X
i=1

((i/n) fi ).

The Gini coefficient is used as a measure of wealth or income inequality: It ranges between 0 (for
equal distribution of wealth) and 1 1/n (when one individual holds all wealth).
(a) Show that G is a quasiconvex function on x Rn+ \ {0}.

(b) Gini coefficient and marriage. Suppose that individuals i and j get married (i 6= j) and
therefore pool wealth. This means that xi and xj are both replaced with (xi + xj )/2. What
can you say about the change in Gini coefficient caused by this marriage?
13.13 Internal rate of return for cash streams with a single initial investment. We use the notation of
example 3.34 in the textbook. Let x Rn+1 be a cash flow over n periods, with x indexed from 0
to n, where the index denotes period number. We assume that x0 < 0, xj 0 for j = 1, . . . , n, and
x0 + + xn > 0. This means that there is an initial positive investment; thereafter, only payments
are made, with the total of the payments exceeding the initial investment. (In the more general
setting of example 3.34, we allow additional investments to be made after the initial investment.)

109

(a) Show that IRR(x) is quasilinear in this case.

(b) Blending initial investment only streams. Use the result in part (a) to show the following.
Let x(i) Rn+1 , i = 1, . . . , k, be a set of k cash flows over n periods, each of which satisfies
the conditions above. Let w Rk+ , with 1T w = 1, and consider the blended cash flow given
by x = w1 x(1) + + wk x(k) . (We can think of this as investing a fraction wi in cash flow
i.) Show that IRR(x) maxi IRR(x(i) ). Thus, blending a set of cash flows (with initial
investment only) will not improve the IRR over the best individual IRR of the cash flows.
13.14 Efficient solution of basic portfolio optimization problem. This problem concerns the simplest
possible portfolio optimization problem:
maximize T w (/2)wT w
subject to 1T w = 1,
with variable w Rn (the normalized portfolio, with negative entries meaning short positions),
and data (mean return), Sn++ (return covariance), and > 0 (the risk aversion parameter).
The return covariance has the factor form = F QF T + D, where F Rnk (with rank K) is
the factor loading matrix, Q Sk++ is the factor covariance matrix, and D is a diagonal matrix
with positive entries, called the idiosyncratic risk (since it describes the risk of each asset that is
independent of the factors). This form for is referred to as a k-factor risk model. Some typical
dimensions are n = 2500 (assets) and k = 30 (factors).
(a) What is the flop count for computing the optimal portfolio, if the low-rank plus diagonal
structure of is not exploited? You can assume that = 1 (which can be arranged by
absorbing it into ).
(b) Explain how to compute the optimal portfolio more efficiently, and give the flop count for your
method. You can assume that k n. You do not have to give the best method; any method
that has linear complexity in n is fine. You can assume that = 1.
Hints. You may want to introduce a new variable y = F T w (which is called the vector of
factor exposures). You may want to work with the matrix
G=

"

1 F
0 I

R(n+k)(1+k) ,

treating it as dense, ignoring the (little) exploitable structure in it.

(c) Carry out your method from part (b) on some randomly generated data with dimensions
n = 2500, k = 30. For comparison (and as a check on your method), compute the optimal
portfolio using the method of part (a) as well. Give the (approximate) CPU time for each
method, using tic and toc. Hints. After you generate D and Q randomly, you might want to
add a positive multiple of the identity to each, to avoid any issues related to poor conditioning.
Also, to be able to invert a block diagonal matrix efficiently, youll need to recast it as sparse.
(d) Risk return trade-off curve. Now suppose we want to compute the optimal portfolio for M
values of the risk aversion parameter . Explain how to do this efficiently, and give the
complexity in terms of M , n, and k. Compare to the complexity of using the method of
part (b) M times. Hint. Show that the optimal portfolio is an affine function of 1/.

110

13.15 Sparse index tracking. The (weekly, say) return of n stocks is given by a random variable r Rn ,
with mean r and covariance E(r r)(r r)T = 0. An index (such as S&P 500 or Wilshire
5000) is a weighted sum of these returns, given by z = cT r, where c Rn+ . (For example, the
vector c is nonzero only for the stocks in the index, and the coefficients ci might be proportional to
some measure of market capitalization of stock i.) We will assume that the index weights c Rn ,
as well as the return mean and covariance r and , are known and fixed.
Our goal is to find a sparse weight vector w Rn , which can include negative entries (meaning,
short positions), so that the RMS index tracking error, defined as
E=

E(z wT r)2
E z2

!1/2

does not exceed 0.10 (i.e., 10%). Of course, taking w = c results in E = 0, but we are interested in
finding a weight vector with (we hope) many fewer nonzero entries than c has.
Remark. This is the idea behind an index fund : You find a sparse portfolio that replicates or tracks
the return of the index (within some error tolerance). Acquiring (and rebalancing) the sparse
tracking portfolio will incur smaller transactions costs than trading in the full index.
(a) Propose a (simple) heuristic method for finding a sparse weight vector w that satisfies E 0.10.

(b) Carry out your method on the problem instance given in sparse_idx_track_data.m. Give
card(w), the number of nonzero entries in w. (To evaluate card(w), use sum(abs(w)>0.01),
which treats weight components smaller than 0.01 as zero.) (You might want to compare the
index weights and the weights you find by typing [c w]. No need to print or turn in the
resulting output, though.)
13.16 Option price bounds. In this problem we use the methods and results of example 5.10 to give
bounds on the arbitrage-free price of an option. (See exercise 5.38 for a simple version of option
pricing.) We will use all the notation and definitions from Example 5.10.
We consider here options on an underlying asset (such as a stock); these have a payoff or value that
depends on S, the value of the underlying asset at the end of the investment period. We will assume
that the underying asset can only take on m different values, S (1) , . . . , S (m) . These correspond to
the m possible scenarios or outcomes described in Example 5.10.
A risk-free asset has value r > 1 in every scenario.
A put option at strike price K gives the owner the right to sell one unit of the underlying stock
at price K. At the end of the investment period, if the stock is trading at a price S, then the
put option has payoff (K S)+ = max{0, K S} (since the option is exercised only if K > S).
Similarly a call option at strike price K gives the buyer the right to buy a unit of stock at price K.
A call option has payoff (S K)+ = max{0, S K}.

A collar is an option with payoff

C S0

S>C
S S0 F S C

F S S <F
0
111

where F is the floor, C is the cap and S0 is the price of the underlying at the start of the investment
period. This option limits both the upside and downside of payoff.
Now we consider a specific problem. The price of the risk-free asset, with r = 1.05, is 1. The price
of the underlying asset is S0 = 1. We will use m = 200 scenarios, with S (i) uniformly spaced from
S (1) = 0.5 to S (200) = 2. The following options are traded on an exchange, with prices listed below.
Type
Call
Call
Put
Put

Strike
1.1
1.2
0.8
0.7

Price
0.06
0.03
0.02
0.01.

A collar with floor F = 0.9 and cap C = 1.15 is not traded on an exchange. Find the range of
prices for this collar, consistent with the absence of arbitrage and the prices given above.
13.17 Portfolio optimization with qualitative return forecasts. We consider the risk-return portfolio optimization problem described on pages 155 and 185 of the book, with one twist: We dont precisely
know the mean return vector p. Instead, we have a range of possible values for each asset, i.e., we
have l, u Rn with l  p  u. We use l and u to encode various qualitative forecasts we have
about the mean return vector p. For example, l7 = 0.02 and u7 = 0.20 means that we believe the
mean return for asset 7 is between 2% and 20%.
Define the worst-case mean return Rwc , as a function of portfolio vector x, as the worst (minimum)
value of pT x, over all p consistent with the given bounds l and u.
(a) Explain how to find a portfolio x that maximizes Rwc , subject to a budget constraint and risk
limit,
2
1T x = 1,
xT x max
,
where Sn++ and max R++ are given.

(b) Solve the problem instance given in port_qual_forecasts_data.m. Give the optimal worstcase mean return achieved by the optimal portfolio x .
In addition, construct a portfolio xmid that maximizes cT x subject to the budget constraint
and risk limit, where c = (1/2)(l + u). This is the optimal portfolio assuming that the mean
return has the midpoint value of the forecasts. Compare the midpoint mean returns cT xmid
and cT x , and the worst-case mean returns of xmid and x .
Briefly comment on the results.

112

14

Mechanical and aerospace engineering

14.1 Optimal design of a tensile structure. A tensile structure is modeled as a set of n masses in R2 ,
some of which are fixed, connected by a set of N springs. The masses are in equilibrium, with spring
forces, connection forces for the fixed masses, and gravity balanced. (This equilibrium occurs when
the position of the masses minimizes the total energy, defined below.)
We let (xi , yi ) R2 denote the position of mass i, and mi > 0 its mass value. The first p masses
and yi = yifixed , for i = 1, . . . , p. The gravitational potential
are fixed, which means that xi = xfixed
i
energy of mass i is gmi yi , where g 9.8 is the gravitational acceleration.
Suppose spring j connects masses r and s. Its elastic potential energy is


(1/2)kj (xr xs )2 + (yr ys )2 ,

where kj 0 is the stiffness of spring j.

To describe the topology, i.e., which springs connect which masses, we will use the incidence matrx
A RnN , defined as

1 head of spring j connects to mass i

1 tail of spring j connects to mass i
Aij =

0 otherwise.

Here we arbitrarily choose a head and tail for each spring, but in fact the springs are completely
symmetric, and the choice can be reversed without any effect. (Hopefully you will discover why it
is convenient to use the incidence matrix A to specify the topology of the system.)
The total energy is the sum of the gravitational energies, over all the masses, plus the sum of the
elastic energies, over all springs. The equilibrium positions of the masses is the point that minimizes
the total energy, subject to the constraints that the first p positions are fixed. (In the equilibrium
positions, the total force on each mass is zero.) We let Emin denote the total energy of the system,
in its equilibrium position. (We assume the energy is bounded below; this occurs if and only if each
mass is connected, through some set of springs with positive stiffness, to a fixed mass.)
The total energy Emin is a measure of the stiffness of the structure, with larger Emin corresponding
to stiffer. (We can think of Emin = as an infinitely unstiff structure; in this case, at least one
mass is not even supported against gravity.)
, y1fixed , . . . , ypfixed , the mass values m1 , . . . , mn ,
, . . . , xfixed
(a) Suppose we know the fixed positions xfixed
p
1
the spring topology A, and the constant g. You are to choose nonnegative k1 , . . . , kN , subject
to a budget constraint 1T k = k1 + +kN = k tot , where k tot is given. Your goal is to maximize
Emin .
Explain how to do this using convex optimization.
(b) Carry out your method for the problem data given in tens_struct_data.m. This file defines
all the needed data, and also plots the equilibrium configuration when the stiffness is evenly
distributed across the springs (i.e., k = (k tot /N )1).
Report the optimal value of Emin . Plot the optimized equilibrium configuration, and compare
it to the equilibrium configuration with evenly distributed stiffness. (The code for doing this
is in the file tens_struct_data.m, but commented out.)
113

14.2 Equilibrium position of a system of springs. We consider a collection of n masses in R2 , with

locations (x1 , y1 ), . . . , (xn , yn ), and masses m1 , . . . , mn . (In other words, the vector x Rn gives
the x-coordinates, and y Rn gives the y-coordinates, of the points.) The masses mi are, of course,
positive.
For i = 1, . . . , n 1, mass i is connected to mass i + 1 by a spring. The potential energy in the ith
spring is a function of the (Euclidean) distance di = k(xi , yi ) (xi+1 , yi+1 )k2 between the ith and
(i + 1)st masses, given by
(
0
di < li
Ei =
2
(ki /2)(di li ) di li
where li 0 is the rest length, and ki > 0 is the stiffness, of the ith spring. The gravitational
potential energy of the ith mass is gmi yi , where g is a positive constant. The total potential energy
of the system is therefore
E=

n1
X

Ei + gmT y.

i=1

The locations of the first and last mass are fixed. The equilibrium location of the other masses is
the one that minimizes E.
(a) Show how to find the equilibrium positions of the masses 2, . . . , n1 using convex optimization.
Be sure to justify convexity of any functions that arise in your formulation (if it is not obvious).
The problem data are mi , ki , li , g, x1 , y1 , xn , and yn .
(b) Carry out your method to find the equilibrium positions for a problem with n = 10, mi = 1,
ki = 10, li = 1, x1 = y1 = 0, xn = yn = 10, with g varying from g = 0 (no gravity) to g = 10
(say). Verify that the results look reasonable. Plot the equilibrium configuration for several
values of g.
14.3 Elastic truss design. In this problem we consider a truss structure with m bars connecting a set
of nodes. Various external forces are applied at each node, which cause a (small) displacement in
the node positions. f Rn will denote the vector of (components of) external forces, and d Rn
will denote the vector of corresponding node displacements. (By corresponding we mean if fi is,
say, the z-coordinate of the external force applied at node k, then di is the z-coordinate of the
displacement of node k.) The vector f is called a loading or load.
The structure is linearly elastic, i.e., we have a linear relation f = Kd between the vector of
external forces f and the node displacements d. The matrix K = K T 0 is called the stiffness
matrix of the truss. Roughly speaking, the larger K is (i.e., the stiffer the truss) the smaller the
node displacement will be for a given loading.
We assume that the geometry (unloaded bar lengths and node positions) of the truss is fixed; we
are to design the cross-sectional areas of the bars. These cross-sectional areas will be the design
variables xi , i = 1, . . . , m. The stiffness matrix K is a linear function of x:
K(x) = x1 K1 + + xm Km ,
where Ki = KiT  0 depend on the truss geometry. You can assume these matrices are given or
known. The total weight Wtot of the truss also depends on the bar cross-sectional areas:
Wtot (x) = w1 x1 + + wm xm ,
114

where wi > 0 are known, given constants (density of the material times the length of bar i). Roughly
speaking, the truss becomes stiffer, but also heavier, when we increase xi ; there is a tradeoff between
stiffness and weight.
Our goal is to design the stiffest truss, subject to bounds on the bar cross-sectional areas and total
truss weight:
l xi u, i = 1, . . . , m,
Wtot (x) W,
where l, u, and W are given. You may assume that K(x) 0 for all feasible vectors x. To obtain
a specific optimization problem, we must say how we will measure the stiffness, and what model of
the loads we will use.
(a) There are several ways to form a scalar measure of how stiff a truss is, for a given load f . In
this problem we will use the elastic stored energy
1
E(x, f ) = f T K(x)1 f
2
to measure the stiffness. Maximizing stiffness corresponds to minimizing E(x, f ).
Show that E(x, f ) is a convex function of x on {x | K(x) 0}.
Hint. Use Schur complements to prove that the epigraph is a convex set.
(b) We can consider several different scenarios that reflect our knowledge about the possible
loadings f that can occur. The simplest is that f is a single, fixed, known loading. In more
sophisticated formulations, the loading f might be a random vector with known distribution,
or known only to lie in some set F, etc.
Show that each of the following four problems is a convex optimization problem, with x as
variable.
Design for a fixed known loading. The vector f is known and fixed. The design problem
is
minimize E(x, f )
subject to l xi u, i = 1, . . . , m
Wtot (x) W.
Design for multiple loadings. The vector f can take any of N known values f (i) , i =
1, . . . , N , and we are interested in the worst-case scenario. The design problem is
minimize maxi=1,...,N E(x, f (i) )
subject to l xi u, i = 1, . . . , m
Wtot (x) W.
Design for worst-case, unknown but bounded load. Here we assume the vector f can take
arbitrary values in a ball B = {f | kf k }, for a given value of . We are interested in
minimizing the worst-case stored energy, i.e.,
minimize

supkf k E(x, f (i) )

subject to l xi u, i = 1, . . . , m
Wtot (x) W.
115

 Design for a random load with known statistics. We can also use a stochastic model of the
uncertainty in the load, and model the vector f as a random variable with known mean
and covariance:
E f = f (0) , E(f f (0) )(f f (0) )T = .
In this case we would be interested in minimizing the expected stored energy, i.e.,
minimize E E(x, f (i) )
subject to l xi u, i = 1, . . . , m
Wtot (x) W.
Hint. If v is a random vector with zero mean and covariance , then E v T Av = E tr Avv T =
tr A E vv T = tr A.
(c) Formulate the four problems in (b) as semidefinite programming problems.
14.4 A structural optimization problem. [2] The figure shows a two-bar truss with height 2h and width
w. The two bars are cylindrical tubes with inner radius r and outer radius R. We are interested
in determining the values of r, R, w, and h that minimize the weight of the truss subject to a
number of constraints. The structure should be strong enough for two loading scenarios. In the
first scenario a vertical force F1 is applied to the node; in the second scenario the force is horizontal
with magnitude F2 .

h
F2

h
F1
w
The weight of the truss is proportional to the total volume of the bars, which is given by
p

2(R2 r2 ) w2 + h2
This is the cost function in the design problem.

The first constraint is that the truss should be strong enough to carry the load F1 , i.e., the stress
caused by the external force F1 must not exceed a given maximum value. To formulate this
constraint, we first determine the forces in each bar when the structure is subjected to the vertical
load F1 . From the force equilibrium and the geometry of the problem we can determine that the
magnitudes of the forces in two bars are equal and given by

w2 + h2
F1 .
2h
116

The maximum force in each bar is equal to the cross-sectional area times the maximum allowable
stress (which is a given constant). This gives us the first constraint:

w2 + h2
F1 (R2 r2 ).
2h
The second constraint is that the truss should be strong enough to carry the load F2 . When F2 is
applied, the magnitudes of the forces in two bars are again equal and given by

w2 + h2
F2 ,
2w
which gives us the second constraint:

w2 + h2
F2 (R2 r2 ).
2w
We also impose limits wmin w wmax and hmin h hmax on the width and the height of the
structure, and limits 1.1r R Rmax on the outer radius.
In summary, we obtain the following problem:

2(R2 r2 ) w2 + h2

w2 + h2
F1 (R2 r2 )
subject to
2h

w2 + h2
F2 (R2 r2 )
2w
wmin w wmax

minimize

hmin h hmax

1.1r R Rmax

R > 0,

r > 0,

w > 0,

h > 0.

The variables are R, r, w, h.

Formulate this as a geometric programming problem.
14.5 Optimizing the inertia matrix of a 2D mass distribution. An object has density (z) at the point
z = (x, y) R2 , over some region R R2 . Its mass m R and center of gravity c R2 are given
by
Z
Z
1
(z) dxdy,
c=
m=
(z)z dxdy,
m R
R
and its inertia matrix M R22 is

M=

(z)(z c)(z c)T dxdy.

(You do not need to know the mechanics interpretation of M to solve this problem, but here it is,
for those interested. Suppose we rotate the mass distribution around a line passing through the
117

center of gravity in the direction q R2 that lies in the plane where the mass distribution is, at
angular rate . Then the total kinetic energy is ( 2 /2)q T M q.)
The goal is to choose the density , subject to 0 (z) max for all z R, and a fixed total
mass m = mgiven , in order to maximize min (M ).
To solve this problem numerically, we will discretize R into N pixels each of area a, with pixel
i having constant density i and location (say, of its center) zi R2 . We will assume that the
integrands above dont vary too much over the pixels, and from now on use instead the expressions
m=a

N
X
i=1

i ,

N
a X
c=
i zi ,
m i=1

M =a

N
X
i=1

i (zi c)(zi c)T .

The problem below refers to these discretized expressions.

(a) Explain how to solve the problem using convex (or quasiconvex) optimization.
(b) Carry out your method on the problem instance with data in inertia_dens_data.m. This
file includes code that plots a density. Give the optimal inertia matrix and its eigenvalues,
and plot the optimal density.
14.6 Truss loading analysis. A truss (in 2D, for simplicity) consists of a set of n nodes, with positions
p(1) , . . . , p(n) R2 , connected by a set of m bars with tensions t1 , . . . , tm R (tj < 0 means bar j
operates in compression).
Each bar puts a force on the two nodes which it connects. Suppose bar j connects nodes k and l.
The tension in this bar applies a force
kp(l)

tj
(p(l) p(k) ) R2
p(k) k2

to node k, and the opposite force to node l. In addition to the forces imparted by the bars, each
node has an external force acting on it. We let f (i) R2 be the external force acting on node i. For
the truss to be in equilibrium, the total force on each node, i.e., the sum of the external force and
the forces applied by all of the bars that connect to it, must be zero. We refer to this constraint as
force balance.
The tensions have given limits, Tjmin tj Tjmax , with Tjmin 0 and Tjmax 0, for j = 1, . . . , m.
(For example, if bar j is a cable, then it can only apply a nonnegative tension, so Tjmin = 0, and
we interpret Tjmax as the maximum tension the cable can carry.)
The first p nodes, i = 1, . . . , p, are free, while the remaining n p nodes, i = p + 1, . . . , n, are
anchored (i.e., attached to a foundation). We will refer to the external forces on the free nodes
as load forces, and external forces at the anchor nodes as anchor forces. The anchor forces are
unconstrained. (More accurately, the foundations at these points are engineered to withstand any
total force that the bars attached to it can deliver.) We will assume that the load forces are just
dead weight, i.e., have the form
f

(i)

"

0
wi

where wi 0 is the weight supported at node i.

118

i = 1, . . . , p,

The set of weights w Rp+ is supportable if there exists a set of tensions t Rm and anchor forces
f (p+1) , . . . , f (n) that, together with the given load forces, satisfy the force balance equations and
respect the tension limits. (The tensions and anchor forces in a real truss will adjust themselves to
have such values when the load forces are applied.) If there does not exist such a set of tensions
and anchor forces, the set of load forces is said to be unsupportable. (In this case, a real truss will
fail, or collapse, when the load forces are applied.)
Finally, we get to the questions.
(a) Explain how to find the maximum total weight, 1T w, that is supportable by the truss.
(b) Explain how to find the minimum total weight that is not supportable by the truss. (Here we
mean: Find the minimum value of 1T w, for which (1 + )w is not supportable, for all > 0.)
(c) Carry out the methods of parts (a) and (b) on the data given in truss_load_data.m. Give
the critical total weights from parts (a) and (b), as well as the individual weight vectors.
Notes.
In parts (a) and (b), we dont need a fully formal mathematical justification; a clear argument
or explanation of anything not obvious is fine.
The force balance equations can be expressed in the compact and convenient form

f load,x
load,y
At + f
= 0,
anch
f

where
(1)

(p)

(1)

(p)

f load,x = (f1 , . . . , f1 ) Rp ,

f load,y = (f2 , . . . , f2 ) Rp ,
(p+1)

f anch = (f1

(n)

(p+1)

, . . . , f1 , f2

(n)

, . . . , f2 ) R2(np) ,

and A R2nm is a matrix that can be found from the geometry data (truss topology and
node positions). You may refer to A in your solutions to parts (a) and (b). For part (c), we
have very kindly provided the matrix A for you in the m-file, to save you the time and trouble
of working out the force balance equations from the geometry of the problem.
14.7 Quickest take-off. This problem concerns the braking and thrust profiles for an airplane during
take-off. For simplicity we will use a discrete-time model. The position (down the runway) and the
velocity in time period t are pt and vt , respectively, for t = 0, 1, . . .. These satisfy p0 = 0, v0 = 0,
and pt+1 = pt + hvt , t = 0, 1, . . ., where h > 0 is the sampling time period. The velocity updates as
vt+1 = (1 )vt + h(ft bt ),

t = 0, 1, . . . ,

where (0, 1) is a friction or drag parameter, ft is the engine thrust, and bt is the braking force,
at time period t. These must satisfy
0 bt min{B max , ft },

0 ft F max ,
119

t = 0, 1, . . . ,

as well as a constraint on how fast the engine thrust can be changed,

|ft+1 ft | S,

t = 0, 1, . . . .

Here B max , F max , and S are given parameters. The initial thrust is f0 = 0. The take-off time is
T to = min{t | vt V to }, where V to is a given take-off velocity. The take-off position is P to = pT to ,
the position of the aircraft at the take-off time. The length of the runway is L > 0, so we must
have P to L.
(a) Explain how to find the thrust and braking profiles that minimize the take-off time T to ,
respecting all constraints. Your solution can involve solving more than one convex problem,
if necessary.
(b) Solve the quickest take-off problem with data
h = 1,

= 0.05,

B max = 0.5,

F max = 4,

S = 0.8,

V to = 40,

L = 300.

Plot pt , vt , ft , and bt versus t. Comment on what you see. Report the take-off time and
take-off position for the profile you find.
14.8 Optimal spacecraft landing. We consider the problem of optimizing the thrust profile for a spacecraft
to carry out a landing at a target position. The spacecraft dynamics are
m
p = f mge3 ,
where m > 0 is the spacecraft mass, p(t) R3 is the spacecraft position, with 0 the target landing
position and p3 (t) representing height, f (t) R3 is the thrust force, and g > 0 is the gravitational
acceleration. (For simplicity we assume that the spacecraft mass is constant. This is not always
a good assumption, since the mass decreases with fuel use. We will also ignore any atmospheric
friction.) We must have p(T td ) = 0 and p(T
td ) = 0, where T td is the touchdown time. The
spacecraft must remain in a region given by
p3 (t) k(p1 (t), p2 (t))k2 ,
where > 0 is a given minimum glide slope. The initial position p(0) and velocity p(0)

are given.
The thrust force f (t) is obtained from a single rocket engine on the spacecraft, with a given
maximum thrust; an attitude control system rotates the spacecraft to achieve any desired direction
of thrust. The thrust force is therefore characterized by the constraint kf (t)k2 F max . The fuel
use rate is proportional to the thrust force magnitude, so the total fuel use is
Z

T td
0

kf (t)k2 dt,

where > 0 is the fuel consumption coefficient. The thrust force is discretized in time, i.e., it is
constant over consecutive time periods of length h > 0, with f (t) = fk for t [(k 1)h, kh), for
k = 1, . . . , K, where T td = Kh. Therefore we have
vk+1 = vk + (1/m)fk ge3 ,

pk+1 = pk + (1/2)(vk + vk+1 ),

where pk denotes p((k1)h), and vk denotes p((k1)h).

We will work with this discrete-time model.

For simplicity, we will impose the glide slope constraint only at the times t = 0, h, 2h, . . . , Kh.
120

(a) Minimum fuel descent. Explain how to find the thrust profile f1 , . . . , fK that minimizes fuel
consumption, given the touchdown time T td = Kh and discretization time h.
(b) Minimum time descent. Explain how to find the thrust profile that minimizes the touchdown time, i.e., K, with h fixed and given. Your method can involve solving several convex
optimization problems.
(c) Carry out the methods described in parts (a) and (b) above on the problem instance with data
given in spacecraft_landing_data.m. Report the optimal total fuel consumption for part (a),
and the minimum touchdown time for part (b). The data file also contains (commented out)
code that plots your results. Use the code to plot the spacecraft trajectory and thrust profiles
you obtained for parts (a) and (b).
14.9 Feedback gain optimization. A system (such as an industrial plant) is characterized by y = Gu + v,
where y Rn is the output, u Rn is the input, and v Rn is a disturbance signal. The matrix
G Rnn , which is known, is called the system input-output matrix. The input signal u is found
using a linear feedback (control) policy: u = F y, where F Rnn is the feedback (gain) matrix,
which is what we need to determine. From the equations given above, we have
y = (I GF )1 v,

u = F (I GF )1 v.

(You can simply assume that I GF will be invertible.)

The disturbance v is random, with E v = 0, E vv T = 2 I, where is known. The objective is to

minimize maxi=1,...,n E yi2 , the maximum mean square value of the output components, subject to
the constraint that E u2i 1, i = 1, . . . , n, i.e., each input component has a mean square value not
exceeding one. The variable to be chosen is the matrix F Rnn .
(a) Explain how to use convex (or quasi-convex) optimization to find an optimal feedback gain
matrix. As usual, you must fully explain any change of variables or other transformations you
carry out, and why your formulation solves the problem described above. A few comments:
You can assume that matrices arising in your change of variables are invertible; you do
not need to worry about the special cases when they are not.
You can assume that G is invertible if you need to, but we will deduct a few points from
these answers.
(b) Carry out your method for the problem instance with data
= 1,

0.3 0.1 0.9

0.3 0.3 .
G = 0.6
0.3
0.6
0.2

Give an optimal F , and the associated optimal objective value.

14.10 Fuel use as function of distance and speed. A vehicle uses fuel at a rate f (s), which is a function
of the vehicle speed s. We assume that f : R R is a positive increasing convex function, with
dom f = R+ . The physical units of s are m/s (meters per second), and the physical units of f (s)
are kg/s (kilograms per second).
(a) Let g(d, t) be the total fuel used (in kg) when the vehicle moves a distance d 0 (in meters)
in time t > 0 (in seconds) at a constant speed. Show that g is convex.
121

(b) Let h(d) be the minimum fuel used (in kg) to move a distance d (in m) at a constant speed s
(in m/s). Show that h is convex.

122

15

Graphs and networks

15.1 A hypergraph with nodes 1, . . . , m is a set of nonempty subsets of {1, 2, . . . , m}, called edges. An
ordinary graph is a special case in which the edges contain no more than two nodes.
We consider a hypergraph with m nodes and assume coordinate vectors xj Rp , j = 1, . . . , m, are
associated with the nodes. Some nodes are fixed and their coordinate vectors xj are given. The
other nodes are free, and their coordinate vectors will be the optimization variables in the problem.
The objective is to place the free nodes in such a way that some measure of the physical size of the
nets is small.
As an example application, we can think of the nodes as modules in an integrated circuit, placed
at positions xj R2 . Every edge is an interconnect network that carries a signal from one module
to one or more other modules.
To define a measure of the size of a net, we store the vectors xj as columns of a matrix X Rpm .
For each edge S in the hypergraph, we use XS to denote the p |S| submatrix of X with the
columns associated with the nodes of S. We define
fS (X) = inf kXS y1T k.

(38)

as the size of the edge S, where k k is a matrix norm, and 1 is a vector of ones of length |S|.
(a) Show that the optimization problem
minimize
is convex in the free node coordinates xj .

edges S

fS (X)

(b) The size fS (X) of a net S obviously depends on the norm used in the definition (38). We
consider five norms.
Frobenius norm:

kXs y1T kF =

p
XX

jS i=1

Maximum Euclidean column norm:

T

kXS y1 k2,1 = max

jS

1/2

(xij yi )2

p
X
i=1

Maximum column sum norm:

kXS y1T k1,1 = max
jS

(xij yi )

p
X
i=1

!1/2

|xij yi |.

Sum of absolute values norm:

kXs y1T ksav =

123

p
XX

jS i=1

|xij yi |

 Sum-row-max norm:

kXs y1T ksrm =

p
X
i=1

max |xij yi |
jS

For which of these norms does fS have the following interpretations?

(i) fS (X) is the radius of the smallest Euclidean ball that contains the nodes of S.
(ii) fS (X) is (proportional to) the perimeter of the smallest rectangle that contains the nodes
of S:
p
1X
fS (X) =
(max xij min xij ).
jS
4 i=1 jS
(iii) fS (X) is the squareroot of the sum of the squares of the Euclidean distances to the mean
of the coordinates of the nodes in S:

fS (X) =

jS

1/2

kxj x
k22

where

x
i =

1 X
xik ,
|S| kS

i = 1, . . . , p.

(iv) fS (X) is the sum of the 1 -distances to the (coordinate-wise) median of the coordinates
of the nodes in S:
fS (X) =

jS

kxj x
k1

where

x
i = median({xik | k S}),

i = 1, . . . , p.

15.2 Let W Sn be a symmetric matrix with nonnegative elements wij and zero diagonal. We can
interpret W as the representation of a weighted undirected graph with n nodes. If wij = wji > 0,
there is an edge between nodes i and j, with weight wij . If wij = wji = 0 then nodes i and j are
not connected. The Laplacian of the weighted graph is defined as
L(W ) = W + diag(W 1).
This is a symmetric matrix with elements
Lij (W ) =

( P
n

k=1 wik

wij

i=j
i 6= j.

The Laplacian has the useful property that

y T L(W )y =

X
ij

wij (yi yj )2

for all vectors y Rn .

(a) Show that the function f : Sn R,
f (W ) = inf nmax (L(W ) + diag(x)) ,
1T x=0

is convex.

124

(b) Give a simple argument why f (W ) is an upper bound on the optimal value of the combinatorial
optimization problem
maximize y T L(W )y
subject to yi {1, 1},

i = 1, . . . , n.

This problem is known as the max-cut problem, for the following reason. Every vector y
with components 1 can be interpreted as a partition of the nodes of the graph in a set
S = {i | yi = 1} and a set T = {i | yi = 1}. Such a partition is called a cut of the graph.
The objective function in the max-cut problem is
y T L(W )y =

X
ij

wij (yi yj )2 .

If y is 1-vector corresponding to a partition in sets S and T , then y T L(W )y equals four

times the sum of the weights of the edges that join a point in S to a point in T . This is called
the weight of the cut defined by y. The solution of the max-cut problem is the cut with the
maximum weight.
(c) The function f defined in part 1 can be evaluated, for a given W , by solving the optimization
problem
minimize nmax (L(W ) + diag(x))
subject to 1T x = 0,
with variable x Rn . Express this problem as an SDP.

(d) Derive an alternative expression for f (W ), by taking the dual of the SDP in part 3. Show
that the dual SDP is equivalent to the following problem:
maximize

X
ij

subject

wij kpi pj k22

kpi k2 = 1,

i = 1, . . . , n,

with variables pi Rn , i = 1, . . . , n. In this problem we place n points pi on the unit sphere

in Rn in such a way that the weighted sum of their squared pair-wise distances is maximized.
15.3 Utility versus latency trade-off in a network. We consider a network with m edges, labeled 1, . . . , m,
and n flows, labeled 1, . . . , n. Each flow has an associated nonnegative flow rate fj ; each edge or
link has an associated positive capacity ci . Each flow passes over a fixed set of links (its route);
the total traffic ti on link i is the sum of the flow rates over all flows that pass through link i. The
flow routes are described by a routing matrix R Rmn , defined as
Rij =

1 flow j passes through link i

0 otherwise.

Thus, the vector of link traffic, t Rm , is given by t = Rf . The link capacity constraint can be
P
expressed as Rf  c. The (logarithmic) network utility is defined as U (f ) = nj=1 log fj .
The (average queuing) delay on link i is given by
di =

1
c i ti

125

(multiplied by a constant, that doesnt matter to us). We take di = for ti = ci . The delay or
latency for flow j, denoted lj , is the sum of the link delays over all links that flow j passes through.
We define the maximum flow latency as
L = max{l1 , . . . , ln }.
We are given R and c; we are to choose f .
(a) How would you find the flow rates that maximize the utility U , ignoring flow latency? (In
particular, we allow L = .) Well refer to this maximum achievable utility as U max .
(b) How would you find the flow rates that minimize the maximum flow latency L, ignoring utility?
(In particular, we allow U = .) Well refer to this minimum achievable latency as Lmin .
(c) Explain how to find the optimal trade-off between utility U (which we want to maximize) and
latency L (which we want to minimize).
(d) Find U max , Lmin , and plot the optimal trade-off of utility versus latency for the network with
data given in net_util_data.m, showing Lmin and U max on the same plot. Your plot should
cover the range from L = 1.1Lmin to L = 11Lmin . Plot U vertically, on a linear scale, and L
horizontally, using a log scale.
Note. For parts (a), (b), and (c), your answer can involve solving one or more convex optimization
problems. But if there is a simpler solution, you should say so.
15.4 Allocation of interdiction effort. A smuggler moves along a directed acyclic graph with m edges and
n nodes, from a source node (which we take as node 1) to a destination node (which we take as node
n), along some (directed) path. Each edge k has a detection failure probability pk , which is the
probability that the smuggler passes over that edge undetected. The detection events on the edges
are independent, so the probability that the smuggler makes it to the destination node undetected
Q
is jP pj , where P {1, . . . , m} is (the set of edges on) the smugglers path. We assume that
the smuggler knows the detection failure probabilities and will take a path that maximizes the
probability of making it to the destination node undetected. We let P max denote this maximum
probability (over paths). (Note that this is a function of the edge detection failure probabilities.)
The edge detection failure probability on an edge depends on how much interdiction resources are
allocated to the edge. Here we will use a very simple model, with xj R+ denoting the effort (say,
yearly budget) allocated to edge j, with associated detection failure probability pj = eaj xj , where
aj R++ are given. The constraints on x are a maximum for each edge, x  xmax , and a total
budget constraint, 1T x B.
(a) Explain how to solve the problem of choosing the interdiction effort vector x Rm , subject
to the constraints, so as to minimize P max . Partial credit will be given for a method that
involves an enumeration over all possible paths (in the objective or constraints). Hint. For
Q
each node i, let Pi denote the maximum of kP pk over all paths P from the source node 1
to node i (so P max = Pn ).
(b) Carry out your method on the problem instance given in interdict_alloc_data.m. The data
file contains the data a, xmax , B, and the graph incidence matrix A Rnm , where

if edge j leaves node i

+1 if edge j enters node i
Aij =

0
otherwise.
126

Give P max , the optimal value of P max , and compare it to the value of P max obtained with
uniform allocation of resources, i.e., with x = (B/m)1.
Hint. Given a vector z Rn , AT z is the vector of edge differences: (AT z)j = zk zl if edge j
goes from node l to node k.

127

The following figure shows the topology of the graph in question. (The data file contains A;
this figure, which is not needed to solve the problem, is shown here so you can visualize the
graph.)
Node 1

Node 2

Node 4

Node 3

Node 6

Node 5

Node 7

Node 8

Node 9

Node 10

15.5 Network sizing. We consider a network with n directed arcs. The flow through arc k is denoted
xk and can be positive, negative, or zero. The flow vector x must satisfy the network constraint
Ax = b where A is the node-arc incidence matrix and b is the external flow supplied to the nodes.
Each arc has a positive capacity or width yk . The quantity |xk |/yk is the flow density in arc k.
The cost of the flow in arc k depends on the flow density and the width of the arc, and is given by
yk k (|xk |/yk ), where k is convex and nondecreasing on R+ .
(a) Define f (y, b) as the optimal value of the network flow optimization problem
minimize

n
X

k=1

subject to

yk k (|xk |/yk )

Ax = b

with variable x, for given values of the arc widths y 0 and external flows b. Is f a convex
function (jointly in y, b)? Carefully explain your answer.
(b) Suppose b is a discrete random vector with possible values b(1) , . . . , b(m) . The probability that
b = b(j) is j . Consider the problem of sizing the network (selecting the arc widths yk ) so that

128

the expected cost is minimized:

minimize g(y) + E f (y, b).

(39)

The variable is y. Here g is a convex function, representing the installation cost, and E f (y, b)
is the expected optimal network flow cost
E f (y, b) =

m
X

j f (y, b(j) ),

j=1

where f is the function defined in part 1. Is (39) a convex optimization problem?

15.6 Maximizing algebraic connectivity of a graph. Let G = (V, E) be a weighted undirected graph with
n = |V | nodes, m = |E| edges, and weights w1 , . . . , wm R+ on the edges. If edge k connects
nodes i and j, then define ak Rn as (ak )i = 1, (ak )j = 1, with other entries zero. The weighted
Laplacian (matrix) of the graph is defined as
L=

m
X

wk ak aTk = A diag(w)AT ,

k=1

where A = [a1 am ] Rnm is the incidence matrix of the graph. Nonnegativity of the weights
implies L  0.
Denote the eigenvalues of the Laplacian L as

1 2 n ,
which are functions of w. The minimum eigenvalue 1 is always zero, while the second smallest
eigenvalue 2 is called the algebraic connectivity of G and is a measure of the connectedness of
a graph: The larger 2 is, the better connected the graph is. It is often used, for example, in
analyzing the robustness of computer networks.
Though not relevant for the rest of the problem, we mention a few other examples of how the
algebraic connectivity can be used. These results, which relate graph-theoretic properties of G
to properties of the spectrum of L, belong to a field called spectral graph theory. For example,
2 > 0 if and only if the graph is connected. The eigenvector v2 associated with 2 is often called
the Fiedler vector and is widely used in a graph partitioning technique called spectral partitioning,
which assigns nodes to one of two groups based on the sign of the relevant component in v2 . Finally,
2 is also closely related to a quantity called the isoperimetric number or Cheeger constant of G,
which measures the degree to which a graph has a bottleneck.
The problem is to choose the edge weights w Rm
+ , subject to some linear inequalities (and the
nonnegativity constraint) so as to maximize the algebraic connectivity:
maximize 2
subject to w  0,

F w  g,

with variable w Rm . The problem data are A (which gives the graph topology), and F and g
(which describe the constraints on the weights).
129

(a) Describe how to solve this problem using convex optimization.

(b) Numerical example. Solve the problem instance given in max_alg_conn_data.m, which uses
F = 1T and g = 1 (so the problem is to allocate a total weight of 1 to the edges of the graph).
Compare the algebraic connectivity for the graph obtained with the optimal weights w to the
one obtained with wunif = (1/m)1 (i.e., a uniform allocation of weight to the edges).
Use the function plotgraph(A,xy,w) to visualize the weighted graphs, with weight vectors
w and wunif . You will find that the optimal weight vector v has some zero entries (which
due to the finite precision of the solver, will appear as small weight values); you may want to
round small values (say, those under 104 ) of w to exactly zero. Use the gplot function to
visualize the original (given) graph, and the subgraph associated with nonzero weights in w .
Briefly comment on the following (incorrect) intuition: The more edges a graph has, the more
connected it is, so the optimal weight assignment should make use of all available edges.

130

16

Energy and power

16.1 Power flow optimization with N 1 reliability constraint. We model a network of power lines as a
graph with n nodes and m edges. The power flow along line j is denoted pj , which can be positive,
which means power flows along the line in the direction of the edge, or negative, which means power
flows along the line in the direction opposite the edge. (In other words, edge orientation is only
used to determine the direction in which power flow is considered positive.) Each edge can support
power flow in either direction, up to a given maximum capacity Pjmax , i.e., we have |pj | Pjmax .
Generators are attached to the first k nodes. Generator i provides power gi to the network. These
must satisfy 0 gi Gmax
, where Gmax
is a given maximum power available from generator i.
i
i
The power generation costs are ci > 0, which are given; the total cost of power generation is cT g.
Electrical loads are connected to the nodes k + 1, . . . , n. We let di 0 denote the demand at node
k + i, for i = 1, . . . , n k. We will consider these loads as given. In this simple model we will
neglect all power losses on lines or at nodes. Therefore, power must balance at each node: the total
power flowing into the node must equal the sum of the power flowing out of the node. This power
balance constraint can be expressed as
Ap =

"

g
d

where A Rnm is the node-incidence matrix of the graph, defined by

Aij =

+1 edge j enters node i,

1 edge j leaves node i,

0 otherwise.

In the basic power flow optimization problem, we choose the generator powers g and the line flow
powers p to minimize the total power generation cost, subject to the constraints listed above.
The (given) problem data are the incidence matrix A, line capacities P max , demands d, maximum
generator powers Gmax , and generator costs c.
In this problem we will add a basic (and widely used) reliability constraint, commonly called an
N 1 constraint. (N is not a parameter in the problem; N 1 just means all-but-one.) This
states that the system can still operate even if any one power line goes out, by re-routing the line
powers. The case when line j goes out is called failure contingency j; this corresponds to replacing
Pjmax with 0. The requirement is that there must exist a contingency power flow vector p(j) that
(j)

satisfies all the constraints above, with pj = 0, using the same given generator powers. (This
corresponds to the idea that power flows can be re-routed quickly, but generator power can only
be changed more slowly.) The N 1 reliability constraint requires that for each line, there is a
contingency power flow vector. The N 1 reliability constraint is (implicitly) a constraint on the
generator powers.
The questions below concern the specific instance of this problem with data given in rel_pwr_flow_data.m.
(Executing this file will also generate a figure showing the network you are optimizating.) Especially
for part (b) below, you must explain exactly how you set up the problem as a convex optimization
problem.

131

(a) Nominal optimization. Find the optimal generator and line power flows for this problem
instance (without the N 1 reliability constraint). Report the optimal cost and generator
powers. (You do not have to give the power line flows.)
(b) Nominal optimization with N 1 reliability constraint. Minimize the nominal cost, but you
must choose generator powers that meet the N 1 reliability requirement as well. Report the
optimal cost and generator powers. (You do not have to give the nominal power line flows, or
any of the contingency flows.)
16.2 Optimal generator dispatch. In the generator dispatch problem, we schedule the electrical output
power of a set of generators over some time interval, to minimize the total cost of generation while
exactly meeting the (assumed known) electrical demand. One challenge in this problem is that the
generators have dynamic constraints, which couple their output powers over time. For example,
every generator has a maximum rate at which its power can be increased or decreased.
We label the generators i = 1, . . . , n, and the time periods t = 1, . . . , T . We let pi,t denote the
(nonnegative) power output of generator i at time interval t. The (positive) electrical demand in
period t is dt . The total generated power in each period must equal the demand:
n
X

pi,t = dt ,

t = 1, . . . , T.

i=1

Each generator has a minimum and maximum allowed output power:

Pimin pi,t Pimax ,

i = 1, . . . , n,

t = 1, . . . , T.

The cost of operating generator i at power output u is i (u), where i is an increasing strictly
convex function. (Assuming the cost is mostly fuel cost, convexity of i says that the thermal
efficiency of the generator decreases as its output power increases.) We will assume these cost
functions are quadratic: i (u) = i u + i u2 , with i and i positive.
Each generator has a maximum ramp-rate, which limits the amount its power output can change
over one time period:
|pi,t+1 pi,t | Ri ,

i = 1, . . . , n,

t = 1, . . . , T 1.

In addition, changing the power output of generator i from ut to ut+1 incurs an additional cost
i (ut+1 ut ), where i is a convex function. (This cost can be a real one, due to increased fuel
use during a change of power, or a fictitious one that accounts for the increased maintenance cost
or decreased lifetime caused by frequent or large changes in power output.) We will use the power
change cost functions i (v) = i |v|, where i are positive.
Power plants with large capacity (i.e., Pimax ) are typically more efficient (i.e., have smaller i , i ),
but have smaller ramp-rate limits, and higher costs associated with changing power levels. Small
gas-turbine plants (peakers) are less efficient, have less capacity, but their power levels can be
rapidly changed.
The total cost of operating the generators is
C=

T
n X
X
i=1 t=1

i (pi,t ) +

1
n TX
X
i=1 t=1

132

i (pi,t+1 pi,t ).

Choosing the generator output schedules to minimize C, while respecting the constraints described
above, is a convex optimization problem. The problem data are dt (the demands), the generator
power limits Pimin and Pimax , the ramp-rate limits Ri , and the cost function parameters i , i , and
i . We will assume that problem is feasible, and that pi,t are the (unique) optimal output powers.
(a) Price decomposition. Show that there are power prices Q1 , . . . , QT for which the following
holds: For each i, pi,t solves the optimization problem
T 1
T
minimize
t=1 (i (pi,t ) Qt pi,t ) +
t=1 i (pi,t+1 pi,t )
min
max
subject to Pi pi,t Pi , t = 1, . . . , T
|pi,t+1 pi,t | Ri , t = 1, . . . , T 1.

The objective here is the portion of the objective for generator i, minus the revenue generated
by the sale of power at the prices Qt . Note that this problem involves only generator i; it can
be solved independently of the other generators (once the prices are known). How would you
find the prices Qt ?
You do not have to give a full formal proof; but you must explain your argument fully. You
are welcome to use results from the text book.
(b) Solve the generator dispatch problem with the data given in gen_dispatch_data.m, which
gives (fake, but not unreasonable) demand data for 2 days, at 15 minute intervals. This file
includes code to plot the demand, optimal generator powers, and prices. (You must replace
these variables with their correct values.) Comment on anything you see in your solution
that might at first seem odd. Using the prices found, solve the problems in part (a) for the
generators separately, to be sure they give the optimal powers (up to some small numerical
errors).
Remark. While beyond the scope of this course, we mention that there are very simple price update
mechanisms that adjust the prices in such a way that when the generators independently schedule
themselves using the prices (as described above), we end up with the total power generated in each
period matching the demand, i.e., the optimal solution of the whole (coupled) problem. This gives
a decentralized method for generator dispatch.
16.3 Optimizing a portfolio of energy sources. We have n different energy sources, such as coal-fired
plants, several wind farms, and solar farms. Our job is to size each of these, i.e., to choose its
capacity. We will denote by ci the capacity of plant i; these must satisfy cmin
ci cmax
, where
i
i
max
min
are given minimum and maximum values.
ci and ci
Each generation source has a cost to build and operate (including fuel, maintenance, government
subsidies and taxes) over some time period. We lump these costs together, and assume that the
cost is proportional to ci , with (given) coefficient bi . Thus, the total cost to build and operate the
energy sources is bT c (in, say, $/hour).
Each generation source is characterized by an availability ai , which is a random variable with values
in [0, 1]. If source i has capacity ci , then the power available from the plant is ci ai ; the total power
available from the portfolio of energy sources is cT a, which is a random variable. A coal fired plant
has ai = 1 almost always, with ai < 1 when one of its units is down for maintenance. A wind farm,
in contrast, is characterized by strong fluctations in availability with ai = 1 meaning a strong wind
133

is blowing, and ai = 0 meaning no wind is blowing. A solar farm has ai = 1 only during peak sun
hours, with no cloud cover; at other times (such as night) we have ai = 0.
Energy demand d R+ is also modeled as a random variable. The components of a (the availabilities) and d (the demand) are not independent. Whenever the total power available falls short of
the demand, the additional needed power is generated by (expensive) peaking power plants at a
fixed positive price p. The average cost of energy produced by the peakers is
E p(d cT a)+ ,
where x+ = max{0, x}. This average cost has the same units as the cost bT c to build and operate
the plants.
The objective is to choose c to minimize the overall cost
C = bT c + E p(d cT a)+ .
Sample average approximation.
on a sample average of peaker cost,

To solve this problem, we will minimize a cost function based

C sa = bT c +

N
1 X
p(d(j) cT a(j) )+
N j=1

where (a(j) , d(j) ), j = 1, . . . , N , are (given) samples from the joint distribution of a and d. (These
might be obtained from historical data, weather and demand forecasting, and so on.)
Validation. After finding an optimal value of c, based on the set of samples, you should double
check or validate your choice of c by evaluating the overall cost on another set of (validation)
samples, (
a(j) , d(j) ), j = 1, . . . , N val ,
val

val

1 NX (j)
p(d cT a
(j) )+ .
= b c + val
N
j=1
T

(These could be another set of historical data, held back for validation purposes.) If C sa C val ,
our confidence that each of them is approximately the optimal value of C is increased.
Finally we get to the problem. Get the data in energy_portfolio_data.m, which includes the
required problem data, and the samples, which are given as a 1 N row vector d for the scalars
d(j) , and an n N matrix A for a(j) . A second set of samples is given for validation, with the names
d_val and A_val.
Carry out the optimization described above. Give the optimal cost obtained, C sa , and compare to
the cost evaluated using the validation data set, C val .
Compare your solution with the following naive (certainty-equivalent) approach: Replace a and
d with their (sample) means, and then solve the resulting optimization problem. Give the optimal
cost obtained, C ce (using the average values of a and d). Is this a lower bound on the optimal value
of the original problem? Now evaluate the cost for these capacities on the validation set, C ce,val .
Make a brief statement.
134

16.4 Optimizing processor speed. A set of n tasks is to be completed by n processors. The variables
to be chosen are the processor speeds s1 , . . . , sn , which must lie between a given minimum value
smin and a maximum value smax . The computational load of task i is i , so the time required to
complete task i is i = i /si .
The power consumed by processor i is given by pi = f (si ), where f : R R is positive, increasing,
and convex. Therefore, the total energy consumed is
E=

n
X
i
i=1

si

f (si ).

(Here we ignore the energy used to transfer data between processors, and assume the processors
are powered down when they are not active.)
There is a set of precedence constraints for the tasks, which is a set of m ordered pairs P
{1, . . . , n} {1, . . . , n}. If (i, j) P, then task j cannot start until task i finishes. (This would be
the case, for example, if task j requires data that is computed in task i.) When (i, j) P, we refer
to task i as a precedent of task j, since it must precede task j. We assume that the precedence
constraints define a directed acyclic graph (DAG), with an edge from i to j if (i, j) P.
If a task has no precedents, then it starts at time t = 0. Otherwise, each task starts as soon as all
of its precedents have finished. We let T denote the time for all tasks to be completed.

To be sure the precedence constraints are clear, we consider the very small example shown below,
with n = 6 tasks and m = 6 precedence constraints.
P = {(1, 4), (1, 3), (2, 3), (3, 6), (4, 6), (5, 6)}.
5

In this example, tasks 1, 2, and 5 start at time t = 0 (since they have no precedents). Task 1
finishes at t = 1 , task 2 finishes at t = 2 , and task 5 finishes at t = 5 . Task 3 has tasks 1 and 2 as
precedents, so it starts at time t = max{1 , 2 }, and ends 3 seconds later, at t = max{1 , 2 } + 3 .
Task 4 completes at time t = 1 + 4 . Task 6 starts when tasks 3, 4, and 5 have finished, at time
t = max{max{1 , 2 } + 3 , 1 + 4 , 5 }. It finishes 6 seconds later. In this example, task 6 is the
last task to be completed, so we have
T = max{max{1 , 2 } + 3 , 1 + 4 , 5 } + 6 .
(a) Formulate the problem of choosing processor speeds (between the given limits) to minimize
completion time T , subject to an energy limit E Emax , as a convex optimization problem.
135

The data in this problem are P, smin , smax , 1 , . . . , n , Emax , and the function f . The variables
are s1 , . . . , sn .
Feel free to change variables or to introduce new variables. Be sure to explain clearly why
your formulation of the problem is convex, and why it is equivalent to the problem statement
above.
Important:
Your formulation must be convex for any function f that is positive, increasing, and
convex. You cannot make any further assumptions about f .
This problem refers to the general case, not the small example described above.

(b) Consider the specific instance with data given in proc_speed_data.m, and processor power
f (s) = 1 + s + s2 + s3 .

The precedence constraints are given by an m 2 matrix prec, where m is the number of
precedence constraints, with each row giving one precedence constraint (the first column gives
the precedents).
Plot the optimal trade-off curve of energy E versus time T , over a range of T that extends
from its minimum to its maximum possible value. (These occur when all processors operate at
smax and smin , respectively, since T is monotone nonincreasing in s.) On the same plot, show
the energy-time trade-off obtained when all processors operate at the same speed s, which is
varied from smin to smax .
Note: In this part of the problem there is no limit E max on E as in part (a); you are to find
the optimal trade-off of E versus T .
16.5 Minimum energy processor speed scheduling. A single processor can adjust its speed in each of T
time periods, labeled 1, . . . , T . Its speed in period t will be denoted st , t = 1, . . . , T . The speeds
must lie between given (positive) minimum and maximum values, S min and S max , respectively, and
must satisfy a slew-rate limit, |st+1 st | R, t = 1, . . . , T 1. (That is, R is the maximum allowed
period-to-period change in speed.) The energy consumed by the processor in period t is given by
(st ), where : R R is increasing and convex. The total energy consumed over all the periods
P
is E = Tt=1 (st ).
The processor must handle n jobs, labeled 1, . . . , n. Each job has an availability time Ai
{1, . . . , T }, and a deadline Di {1, . . . , T }, with Di Ai . The processor cannot start work
on job i until period t = Ai , and must complete the job by the end of period Di . Job i involves a
(nonnegative) total work Wi . You can assume that in each time period, there is at least one job
available, i.e., for each t, there is at least one i with Ai t and Di t.

In period t, the processor allocates its effort across the n jobs as t , where 1T t = 1, t  0. Here
ti (the ith component of t ) gives the fraction of the processor effort devoted to job i in period t.
Respecting the availability and deadline constraints requires that ti = 0 for t < Ai or t > Di . To
complete the jobs we must have
Di
X

t=Ai

ti st Wi ,

136

i = 1, . . . , n.

(a) Formulate the problem of choosing the speeds s1 , . . . , sT , and the allocations 1 , . . . , T , in
order to minimize the total energy E, as a convex optimization problem. The problem data
are S min , S max , R, , and the job data, Ai , Di , Wi , i = 1, . . . , n. Be sure to justify any change
of variables, or introduction of new variables, that you use in your formulation.
(b) Carry out your method on the problem instance described in proc_sched_data.m, with
quadratic energy function (st ) = + st + s2t . (The parameters , , and are given
in the data file.) Executing this file will also give a plot showing the availability times and
deadlines for the jobs.
Give the energy obtained by your speed profile and allocations. Plot these using the command
bar((s*ones(1,n)).*theta,1,stacked), where s is the T 1 vector of speeds, and is
the T n matrix of allocations with components ti . This will show, at each time period, how
much effective speed is allocated to each job. The top of the plot will show the speed st . (You
dont need to turn in a color version of this plot; B&W is fine.)
16.6 AC power flow analysis via convex optimization. This problem concerns an AC (alternating current)
power system consisting of m transmission lines that connect n nodes. We describe the topology
by the node-edge incidence matrix A Rnm , where
Aij =

+1 line j leaves node i

1 line j enters node i

otherwise.

The power flow on line j is pj (with positive meaning in the direction of the line as defined in A,
negative meaning power flow in the opposite direction).
Node i has voltage phase angle i , and external power input si . (If a generator is attached to node
i we have si > 0; if a load is attached we have si < 0; if the node has neither, si = 0.) Neglecting
power losses in the lines, and assuming power is conserved at each node, we have Ap = s. (We must
have 1T s = 0, which means that the total power pumped into the network by generators balances
the total power pulled out by the loads.)
The line power flows are a nonlinear function of the difference of the phase angles at the nodes they
connect to:
pj = j sin(k l ),
where line j goes from node k to node l. Here j is a known positive constant (related to the
inductance of the line). We can write this in matrix form as p = diag() sin(AT ), where sin is
applied elementwise.
The DC power flow equations are
Ap = s,

p = diag() sin(AT ).

In the power analysis problem, we are given s, and want to find p and that satisfy these equations.
We are interested in solutions with voltage phase angle differences that are smaller than 90 .
(Under normal conditions, real power lines are never operated with voltage phase angle differences
more than 20 or so.)

137

You will show that the DC power flow equations can be solved by solving the convex optimization
problem
Pm
minimize
i=j j (pj )
subject to Ap = s,
with variable p, where
j (u) = j

u
0

sin1 (v/j ) dv = u sin1 (u/j ) + j ( 1 (u/j )2 1),

with domain dom j = (j , j ). (The second expression will be useless in this problem.)
(a) Show that the problem above is convex.
(b) Suppose the problem above has solution p , with optimal dual variable associated with the
equality constraint Ap = s. Show that p , = solves the DC power flow equation. Hint.
Write out the optimality conditions for the problem above.
16.7 Power transmission with losses. A power transmission grid is modeled as a set of n nodes and
m directed edges (which represent transmission lines), with topology described by the node-edge
incidence matrix A Rnm , defined by
Aij =

+1 edge j enters node i,

1 edge j leaves node i,

0 otherwise.

out 0 the power that

We let pin
j 0 denote the power that flows into the tail of edge j, and pj
emerges from the head of edge j, for j = 1, . . . , m. Due to transmission losses, the power that flows
into each edge is more than the power that emerges:
out
2
out 2
pin
j = pj + (Lj /Rj )(pj ) ,

j = 1, . . . , m,

where Lj > 0 is the length of transmission line j, Rj > 0 is the radius of the conductors on line
j, and > 0 is a constant. (The second term on the righthand side above is the transmission line
power loss.) In addition, each edge has a maximum allowed input power, that also depends on the
2
conductor radius: pin
j Rj , j = 1, . . . , m, where > 0 is a constant.

Generators are attached to nodes i = 1, . . . , k, and loads are attached to nodes i = k + 1, . . . , n.

We let gi denote the (nonnegative) power injected into node i by its generator, for i = 1, . . . , k. We
let li denote the (nonnegative) power pulled from node i by the load, for i = k + 1, . . . , n. These
load powers are known and fixed.
We must have power balance at each node. For i = 1, . . . , k, the sum of all power entering the node
from incoming transmission lines, plus the power supplied by the generator, must equal the sum of
all power leaving the node on outgoing transmission lines:
X

pout
j + gi =

jE(i)

pin
j ,

i = 1, . . . , k,

jL(i)

where E(i) (L(i)) is the set of edge indices for edges entering (leaving) node i. For the load nodes
i = k + 1, . . . , n we have a similar power balance condition:
X

jE(i)

pout
=
j

pin
j + li ,

jL(i)

138

i = k + 1, . . . , n.

], and has an associated cost of

Each generator can vary its power gi over a given range [0, Gmax
i
generation i (gi ), where i is convex and strictly increasing, for i = 1, . . . , k.
(a) Minimum total cost of generation. Formulate the problem of choosing generator and edge input
and output powers, so as to minimize the total cost of generation, as a convex optimization
problem. (All other quantities described above are known.) Be sure to explain any additional
variables or terms you introduce, and to justify any transformations you make.
Hint: You may find the matrices A+ = (A)+ and A = (A)+ helpful in expressing the power
balance constraints.
(b) Marginal cost of power at load nodes. The (marginal) cost of power at node i, for i = k +
1, . . . , n, is the partial derivative of the minimum total power generation cost, with respect to
varying the load power li . (We will simply assume these partial derivatives exist.) Explain
how to find the marginal cost of power at node i, from your formulation in part (a).
(c) Optimal sizing of lines. Now suppose that you can optimize over generator powers, edge input
and output powers (as above), and the power line radii Rj , j = 1, . . . , m. These must lie
between given limits, Rj [Rjmin , Rjmax ] (Rjmin > 0), and we must respect a total volume
constraint on the lines,
m
X

j=1

Lj Rj2 V max .

Formulate the problem of choosing generator and edge input and output powers, as well as
power line radii, so as to minimize the total cost of generation, as a convex optimization
problem. (Again, explain anything that is not obvious.)
(d) Numerical example. Using the data given in ptrans_loss_data.m, find the minimum total
generation cost and the marginal cost of power at nodes k + 1, . . . , n, for the case described
in parts (a) and (b) (i.e., using the fixed given radii Rj ), and also for the case described in
part (c), where you are allowed to change the transmission line radii, keeping the same total
volume as the original lines. For the generator costs, use the quadratic functions
i (gi ) = ai gi + bi gi2 ,

i = 1, . . . , k,

where a, b Rk+ . (These are given in the data file.)

Remark : In the m-file, we give you a load vector l Rnk . For consistency, the ith entry of
this vector corresponds to the load at node k + i.
16.8 Utility/power trade-off in a wireless network. In this problem we explore the trade-off between
total utility and total power usage in a wireless network in which the link transmit powers can
be adjusted. The network consists of a set of nodes and a set of links over which data can be
transmitted. There are n routes, each corresponding to a sequence of links from a source to a
destination node. Route j has a data flow rate fj R+ (in units of bits/sec, say). The total utility
(which we want to maximize) is
U (f ) =

n
X

Uj (fj ),

j=1

where Uj : R R are concave increasing functions.

139

The network topology is specified by the routing matrix R Rmn , defined as

Rij =

1 route j passes over link i

0 otherwise.

The total traffic on a link is the sum of the flows that pass over the link. The traffic (vector) is thus
t = Rf Rm . The traffic on each link cannot exceed the capacity of the link, i.e., t  c, where
c Rm
+ is the vector of link capacities.

The link capacities, in turn, are functions of the link transmit powers, given by p Rm
+ , which
cannot exceed given limits, i.e., p  pmax . These are related by
ci = i log(1 + i pi ),

where i and i are positive parameters that characterize link i. The second objective (which we
want to minimize) is P = 1T p, the total (transmit) power.
(a) Explain how to find the optimal trade-off curve of total utility and total power, using convex
or quasiconvex optimization.

(b) Plot the optimal trade-off curve for the problem instance with m = 20, n = 10, Uj (x) = x
= 10, i = i = 1 for i = 1, . . . , m, and network topology generated
for j = 1, . . . , n, pmax
i
using
rand(seed,3);
R = round(rand(m,n));
Your plot should have the total power on the horizontal axis.
16.9 Energy storage trade-offs. We consider the use of a storage device (say, a battery) to reduce the
total cost of electricity consumed over one day. We divide the day into T time periods, and let
pt denote the (positive, time-varying) electricity price, and ut denote the (nonnegative) usage or
consumption, in period t, for t = 1, . . . , T . Without the use of a battery, the total cost is pT u.
Let qt denote the (nonnegative) energy stored in the battery in period t. For simplicity, we neglect
energy loss (although this is easily handled as well), so we have qt+1 = qt + ct , t = 1, . . . , T 1,
where ct is the charging of the battery in period t; ct < 0 means the battery is discharged. We will
require that q1 = qT + cT , i.e., we finish with the same battery charge that we start with. With
the battery operating, the net consumption in period t is ut + ct ; we require this to be nonnegative
(i.e., we do not pump power back into the grid). The total cost is then pT (u + c).
The battery is characterized by three parameters: The capacity Q, where qt Q; the maximum
charge rate C, where ct C; and the maximum discharge rate D, where ct D. (The parameters
Q, C, and D are nonnegative.)
(a) Explain how to find the charging profile c RT (and associated stored energy profile q RT )
that minimizes the total cost, subject to the constraints.
(b) Solve the problem instance with data p and u given in storage_tradeoff_data.m, Q = 35,
and C = D = 3. Plot ut , pt , ct , and qt versus t.

140

(c) Storage trade-offs. Plot the minimum total cost versus the storage capacity Q, using p and
u from storage_tradeoff_data.m, and charge/discharge limits C = D = 3. Repeat for
charge/discharge limits C = D = 1. (Put these two trade-off curves on the same plot.) Give
an interpretation of the endpoints of the trade-off curves.

141

17

Miscellaneous applications

17.1 Earth movers distance. In this exercise we explore a general method for constructing a distance
between two probability distributions on a finite set, called the earth movers distance, Wasserstein
metric, or Dubroshkin metric. Let x and y be two probability distributions on {1, . . . , n}, i.e.,
1T x = 1T y = 1, x  0, y  0. We imagine that xi is the amount of earth stored at location i;
our goal is to move the earth between locations to obtain the distribution given by y. Let Cij be
the cost of moving one unit of earth from location j to location i. We assume that Cii = 0, and
Cij = Cji > 0 for i 6= j. (We allow Cij = , which means that earth cannot be moved directly from
node j to node i.) Let Sij 0 denote the amount of earth moved from location j to location i. The
P
total cost is ni,j=1 Sij Cij = tr C T S. The shipment matrix S must satisfy the balance equations,
n
X

Sij = yi ,

n
X

i = 1, . . . , n,

Sij = xj ,

j = 1, . . . , n,

i=1

j=1

which we can write compactly as S1 = y, S T 1 = x. (The first equation states that the total
amount shipped into location i equals yi ; the second equation states that the total shipped out
from location j is xj .) The earth movers distance between x and y, denoted d(x, y), is given by the
minimal cost of earth moving required to transform x to y, i.e., the optimal value of the problem
minimize tr C T S
subject to Sij 0,
S1 = y,

i, j = 1, . . . , n
S T 1 = x,

with variables S Rnn .

We can also give a probability interpretation of d(x, y). Consider a random variable Z on {1, . . . , n}2
with values Cij . We seek the joint distribution S that minimizes the expected value of the random
variable Z, with given marginals x and y.
The earth movers distance is used to compare, for example, 2D images, with Cij equal to the
distance between pixels i and j. If x and y represent two photographs of the same scene, from
slightly different viewpoints and with an offset in camera position (say), d(x, y) will be small, but
the distance between x and y measured by most common norms (e.g., kx yk1 ) will be large.
(a) Show that d satisfies the following. Symmetry: d(x, y) = d(y, x); Nonnegativity: d(x, y) 0;
Definiteness: d(x, x) = 0, and d(x, y) > 0 for x 6= y.

(b) Show that d(x, y) is the optimal value of the problem

maximize T x + T y
subject to i + j Cij ,

i, j = 1, . . . , n,

with variables , Rn .
17.2 Radiation treatment planning. In radiation treatment, radiation is delivered to a patient, with the
goal of killing or damaging the cells in a tumor, while carrying out minimal damage to other tissue.
The radiation is delivered in beams, each of which has a known pattern; the level of each beam can
be adjusted. (In most cases multiple beams are delivered at the same time, in one shot, with the
142

treatment organized as a sequence of shots.) We let bj denote the level of beam j, for j = 1, . . . , n.
These must satisfy 0 bj B max , where B max is the maximum possible beam level. The exposure
area is divided into m voxels, labeled i = 1, . . . , m. The dose di delivered to voxel i is linear in
P
mn
is a (known) matrix that characterizes the
the beam levels, i.e., di = nj=1 Aij bj . Here A R+
beam patterns. We now describe a simple radiation treatment planning problem.
A (known) subset of the voxels, T {1, . . . , m}, corresponds to the tumor or target region. We
require that a minimum radiation dose Dtarget be administered to each tumor voxel, i.e., di Dtarget
for i T . For all other voxels, we would like to have di Dother , where Dother is a desired maximum
dose for non-target voxels. This is generally not feasible, so instead we settle for minimizing the
penalty
X
E=
((di Dother )+ )2 ,
i6T

where ()+ denotes the nonnegative part. We can interpret E as the sum of the squares of the
nontarget excess doses.
(a) Show that the treatment planning problem is convex. The optimization variable is b Rn ;
the problem data are B max , A, T , Dtarget , and Dother .

(b) Solve the problem instance with data given in the file treatment_planning_data.m. Here we
have split the matrix A into Atarget, which contains the rows corresponding to the target
voxels, and Aother, which contains the rows corresponding to other voxels. Give the optimal
value. Plot the dose histogram for the target voxels, and also for the other voxels. Make a
brief comment on what you see. Remark. The beam pattern matrix in this problem instance
is randomly generated, but similar results would be obtained with realistic data.
17.3 Flux balance analysis in systems biology. Flux balance analysis is based on a very simple model of
the reactions going on in a cell, keeping track only of the gross rate of consumption and production
of various chemical species within the cell. Based on the known stoichiometry of the reactions, and
known upper bounds on some of the reaction rates, we can compute bounds on the other reaction
rates, or cell growth, for example.
We focus on m metabolites in a cell, labeled M1 , . . . , Mm . There are n reactions going on, labeled
R1 , . . . , Rn , with nonnegative reaction rates v1 , . . . , vn . Each reaction has a (known) stoichiometry,
which tells us the rate of consumption and production of the metabolites per unit of reaction rate.
The stoichiometry data is given by the stoichiometry matrix S Rmn , defined as follows: Sij
is the rate of production of Mi due to unit reaction rate vj = 1. Here we consider consumption
of a metabolite as negative production; so Sij = 2, for example, means that reaction Rj causes
metabolite Mi to be consumed at a rate 2vj .
As an example, suppose reaction R1 has the form M1 M2 + 2M3 . The consumption rate of M1 ,
due to this reaction, is v1 ; the production rate of M2 is v1 ; and the production rate of M3 is 2v1 .
(The reaction R1 has no effect on metabolites M4 , . . . , Mm .) This corresponds to a first column of
S of the form (1, 1, 2, 0, . . . , 0).
Reactions are also used to model flow of metabolites into and out of the cell. For example, suppose
that reaction R2 corresponds to the flow of metabolite M1 into the cell, with v2 giving the flow
rate. This corresponds to a second column of S of the form (1, 0, . . . , 0).

143

The last reaction, Rn , corresponds to biomass creation, or cell growth, so the reaction rate vn is
the cell growth rate. The last column of S gives the amounts of metabolites used or created per
unit of cell growth rate.
Since our reactions include metabolites entering or leaving the cell, as well as those converted
to biomass within the cell, we have conservation of the metabolites, which can be expressed as
Sv = 0. In addition, we are given upper limits on some of the reaction rates, which we express as
v  v max , where we set vjmax = if no upper limit on reaction rate j is known. The goal is to
find the maximum possible cell growth rate (i.e., largest possible value of vn ) consistent with the
constraints
Sv = 0,
v  0,
v  v max .
The questions below pertain to the data found in fba_data.m.
(a) Find the maximum possible cell growth rate G , as well as optimal Lagrange multipliers for
the reaction rate limits. How sensitive is the maximum growth rate to the various reaction
rate limits?
(b) Essential genes and synthetic lethals. For simplicity, well assume that each reaction is controlled by an associated gene, i.e., gene Gi controls reaction Ri . Knocking out a set of genes
associated with some reactions has the effect of setting the reaction rates (or equivalently, the
associated v max entries) to zero, which of course reduces the maximum possible growth rate.
If the maximum growth rate becomes small enough or zero, it is reasonable to guess that
knocking out the set of genes will kill the cell. An essential gene is one that when knocked
out reduces the maximum growth rate below a given threshold Gmin . (Note that Gn is always
an essential gene.) A synthetic lethal is a pair of non-essential genes that when knocked out
reduces the maximum growth rate below the threshold. Find all essential genes and synthetic
lethals for the given problem instance, using the threshold Gmin = 0.2G .
17.4 Online advertising displays. When a user goes to a website, one of a set of n ads, labeled 1, . . . , n, is
displayed. This is called an impression. We divide some time interval (say, one day) into T periods,
labeled t = 1, . . . , T . Let Nit 0 denote the number of impressions in period t for which we display
P
ad i. In period t there will be a total of It > 0 impressions, so we must have ni=1 Nit = It , for
t = 1, . . . , T . (The numbers It might be known from past history.) You can treat all these numbers
as real. (This is justified since they are typically very large.)
The revenue for displaying ad i in period t is Rit 0 per impression. (This might come from clickP
P
through payments, for example.) The total revenue is Tt=1 ni=1 Rit Nit . To maximize revenue, we
would simply display the ad with the highest revenue per impression, and no other, in each display
period.
We also have in place a set of m contracts that require us to display certain numbers of ads, or mixes
of ads (say, associated with the products of one company), over certain periods, with a penalty for
any shortfalls. Contract j is characterized by a set of ads Aj {1, . . . , n} (while it does not affect
the math, these are often disjoint), a set of periods Tj {1, . . . , T }, a target number of impressions
qj 0, and a shortfall penalty rate pj > 0. The shortfall sj for contract j is

sj = qj

X X

tTj iAj

144

Nit ,
+

where (u)+ means max{u, 0}. (This is the number of impressions by which we fall short of the
P
target value qj .) Our contracts require a total penalty payment equal to m
j=1 pj sj . Our net profit
is the total revenue minus the total penalty payment.
(a) Explain how to find the display numbers Nit that maximize net profit. The data in this
problem are R RnT , I RT (here I is the vector of impressions, not the identity matrix),
and the contract data Aj , Tj , qj , and pj , j = 1, . . . , m.

(b) Carry out your method on the problem with data given in ad_disp_data.m. The data Aj
and Tj , for j = 1, . . . , m are given by matrices Acontr Rnm and T contr RT m , with
Acontr
ij

1 i Aj
0 otherwise,

Ttjcontr

1 t Tj
0 otherwise.

Report the optimal net profit, and the associated revenue and total penalty payment. Give
the same three numbers for the strategy of simply displaying in each period only the ad with
the largest revenue per impression.
17.5 Ranking by aggregating preferences. We have n objects, labeled 1, . . . , n. Our goal is to assign a
real valued rank ri to the objects. A preference is an ordered pair (i, j), meaning that object i is
preferred over object j. The ranking r Rn and preference (i, j) are consistent if ri rj + 1.
(This sets the scale of the ranking: a gap of one in ranking is the threshold for preferring one item
over another.) We define the preference violation of preference (i, j) with ranking r Rn as
v = (rj + 1 ri )+ = max{rj + 1 ri , 0}.
We have a set of m preferences among the objects, (i(1) , j (1) ), . . . , (i(m) , j (m) ). (These may come
from several different evaluators of the objects, but this wont matter here.)
We will select our ranking r as a minimizer of the total preference violation penalty, defined as
J=

m
X

(v (k) ),

k=1

where v (k) is the preference violation of (i(k) , j (k) ) with r, and is a nondecreasing convex penalty
function that satisfies (u) = 0 for u 0.
(a) Make a (simple, please) suggestion for for each of the following two situations:
(i) We dont mind some small violations, but we really want to avoid large violations.
(ii) We want as many preferences as possible to be consistent with the ranking, but will accept
some (hopefully, few) larger preference violations.
(b) Find the rankings obtained using the penalty functions proposed in part (a), on the data
set found in rank_aggr_data.m. Plot a histogram of preference violations for each case and
briefly comment on the differences between them. Give the number of positive preference
violations for each case. (Use sum(v>0.001) to determine this number.)

145

Remark. The objects could be candidates for a position, papers at a conference, movies, websites,
courses at a university, and so on. The preferences could arise in several ways. Each of a set of
evaluators provides some preferences, for example by rank ordering a subset of the objects. The
problem can be thought of as aggregating the preferences given by the evaluators, to come up with
a composite ranking.
17.6 Time release formulation. A patient is treated with a drug (say, in pill form) at different times.
Each treatment (or pill) contains (possibly) different amounts of various formulations of the drug.
Each of the formulations, in turn, has a characteristic pattern as to how quickly it releases the
drug into the bloodstream. The goal is to optimize the blend of formulations that go into each
treatment, in order to achieve a desired drug concentration in the bloodstream over time.
We will use discrete time, t = 1, 2, . . . , T , representing hours (say). There will be K treatments,
administered at known times 1 = 1 < 2 < < K < T . We have m drug formulations; each
treatment consists of a mixture of these m formulations. We let a(k) Rm
+ denote the amounts of
the m formulations in treatment k, for k = 1, . . . , K.
(k)

Each formulation i has a time profile pi (t) R+ , for t = 1, 2, . . .. If an amount ai of formulation

i from treatment k is administered at time t0 , the drug concentration in the bloodstream (due to
(k)
this formulation) is given by ai pi (t t0 ) for t > t0 , and 0 for t t0 . To simplify notation, we will
define pi (t) to be zero for t = 0, 1, 2, . . .. We assume the affects of the different formulations
and different treatments are additive, so the total bloodstream drug concentration is given by
c(t) =

m
K X
X

k=1 i=1

(k)

pi (t k )ai ,

t = 1, . . . , T.

(This is just a vector convolution.) Recall that pi (t k ) = 0 for t k , which means that the
effect of treatment k does not show up until time k + 1.
We require that c(t) cmax for t = 1, . . . , T , where cmax is a given maximum permissible concentration. We define the therapeutic time T ther as
T ther = min{t | c( ) cmin for = t, . . . , T },
with T ther = if c(t) < cmin for t = 1, . . . , T . Here, cmin is the minimum concentration for the drug
to have therapeutic value. Thus, T ther is the first time at which the drug concentration reaches,
and stays above, the minimum therapeutic level.
Finally, we get to the problem. The optimization variables are the treatment formulation vectors
a(1) , . . . , a(K) . There are two objectives: T ther (which we want to be small), and
J ch =

K1
X
k=1

ka(k+1) a(k) k

(which we also want to be small). This second objective is a penalty for changing the formulation
amounts in the treatments.
The rest of the problem concerns the specific instance with data given in the file time_release_form_data.m.
This gives data for T = 168 (one week, starting from 8AM Monday morning), with treatments occuring 3 times each day, at 8AM, 2PM, and 11PM, so we have a total of K = 21 treatments. We
have m = 6 formulations, with profiles with length 96 (i.e., pi (t) = 0 for t > 96).
146

 Explain how to find the optimal trade-off curve of T ther versus J ch . Your method may involve
solving several convex optimization problems.
Plot the trade-off curve over a reasonable range, and be sure to explain or at least comment
on the endpoints of the trade-off curve.
Plot the treatment formulation amounts versus k, and the bloodstream concentration versus
t, for the two trade-off curve endpoints, and one corresponding to T ther = 8.
Warning. Weve found that CVX can experience numerical problems when solving this problem
(depending on how it is formulated). In one case, cvx_status is Solved/Inaccurate when in fact
the problem has been solved (just not to the tolerances SeDuMi likes to see). You can ignore this
status, taking it to mean Optimal. You can also try switching to the SDPT3 solver. In any case,
please do not spend much time worrying about, or dealing with, these numerical problems.
17.7 Sizing a gravity feed water supply network. A water supply network connects water supplies (such
as reservoirs) to consumers via a network of pipes. Water flow in the network is due to gravity
(as opposed to pumps, which could also be added to the formulation). The network is composed
of a set of n nodes and m directed edges between pairs of nodes. The first k nodes are supply or
reservoir nodes, and the remaining n k are consumer nodes. The edges correspond to the pipes
in the water supply network.
We let fj 0 denote the water flow in pipe (edge) j, and hi denote the (known) altitude or height
of node i (say, above sea level). At nodes i = 1, . . . , k, we let si 0 denote the flow into the network
from the supply. For i = 1, . . . , n k, we let ci 0 denote the water flow taken out of the network
(by consumers) at node k + i. Conservation of flow can be expressed as
Af =

"

s
c

where A Rnm is the incidence matrix for the supply network, given by

if edge j leaves node i

+1 if edge j enters node i
Aij =

0
otherwise.

We assume that each edge is oriented from a node of higher altitude to a node of lower altitude; if
edge j goes from node i to node l, we have hi > hl . The pipe flows are determined by
fj =

j Rj2 (hi hl )
,
Lj

where edge j goes from node i to node l, > 0 is a known constant, Lj > 0 is the (known) length
of pipe j, Rj > 0 is the radius of pipe j, and j [0, 1] corresponds to the valve opening in pipe j.

Finally, we have a few more constraints. The supply feed rates are limited: we have si Simax .
The pipe radii are limited: we have Rjmin Rj Rjmax . (These limits are all known.)

(a) Supportable consumption vectors. Suppose that the pipe radii are fixed and known. We say
nk
that c R+
is supportable if there is a choice of f , s, and for which all constraints
and conditions above are satisfied. Show that the set of supportable consumption vectors is
a polyhedron, and explain how to determine whether or not a given consumption vector is
supportable.
147

(b) Optimal pipe sizing. You must select the pipe radii Rj to minimize the cost, which we take to
2 , subject to being able to
be (proportional to) the total volume of the pipes, L1 R12 + +Lm Rm
(1)
(N
)
support a set of consumption vectors, denoted c , . . . , c , which we refer to as consumption
scenarios. (This means that any consumption vector in the convex hull of {c(1) , . . . , c(N ) } will
be supportable.) Show how to formulate this as a convex optimization problem. Note. You
are asked to choose one set of pipe radii, and N sets of valve parameters, flow vectors, and
source vectors; one for each consumption scenario.

(c) Solve the instance of the optimal pipe sizing problem with data defined in the file grav_feed_network_data.m,
and report the optimal value and the optimal pipe radii. The columns of the matrix C in the
data file are the consumption vectors c(1) , . . . , c(N ) .
Hint. AT h gives a vector containing the height differences across the edges.
17.8 Optimal political positioning. A political constituency is a group of voters with similar views on a
set of political issues. The electorate (i.e., the set of voters in some election) is partitioned (by a
political analyst) into K constituencies, with (nonnegative) populations P1 , . . . , PK . A candidate in
the election has an initial or prior position on each of n issues, but is willing to consider (presumably
small) deviations from her prior positions in order to maximize the total number of votes she will
receive. We let xi R denote the change in her position on issue i, measured on some appropriate
scale. (You can think of xi < 0 as a move to the left and xi > 0 as a move to the right on the
issue, if you like.) The vector x Rn characterizes the changes in her position on all issues; x = 0
represents the prior positions. On each issue she has a limit on how far in each direction she is
willing to move, which we express as l  x  u, where l 0 and u 0 are given.
The candidates position change x affects the fraction of voters in each constituency that will vote
for her. This fraction is modeled as a logistic function,
fk = g(wkT x + vk ),

k = 1, . . . , K.

Here g(z) = 1/(1 + exp(z)) is the standard logistic function, and wk Rn and vk R are given
data that characterize the views of constituency k on the issues. Thus the total number of votes
the candidate will receive is
V = P1 f1 + + PK fK .
The problem is to choose x (subject to the given limits) so as to maximize V . The problem data
are l, u, and Pk , wk , and vk for k = 1, . . . , K.
(a) The general political positioning problem. Show that the objective function V need not be
quasiconcave. (This means that the general optimal political positioning problem is not a
quasiconvex problem, and therefore also not a convex problem.) In other words, choose problem data for which V is not a quasiconcave function of x.
(b) The partisan political positioning problem. Now suppose the candidate focuses only on her
core constituencies, i.e., those for which a significant fraction will vote for her. In this case
we interpret the K constituencies as her core constituencies; we assume that vk 0, which
means that with her prior position x = 0, at least half of each of her core constituencies will
vote for her. We add the constraint that wkT x + vk 0 for each k, which means that she will
not take positions that alienate a majority of voters from any of her core constituencies.
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Show that the partisan political positioning problem (i.e., maximizing V with the additional
assumptions and constraints) is convex.
(c) Numerical example. Find the optimal positions for the partisan political positioning problem
with data given in opt_pol_pos_data.m. Report the number of votes from each constituency
under the politicians prior positions (x = 0) and optimal positions, as well as the total number
of votes V in each case.
You may use the function
gapprox (z) = min{1, g(i) + g (i)(z i) for i = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4}
as an approximation of g for z 0. (The function gapprox is also an upper bound on g for
z 0.) For your convenience, we have included function definitions for g and gapprox (g and
gapx, respectively) in the data file. You should report the results (votes from each constituency
and total) using g, but be sure to check that these numbers are close to the results using gapprox
(say, within one percent or so).
17.9 Resource allocation in stream processing. A large data center is used to handle a stream of J types
of jobs. The traffic (number of instances per second) of each job type is denoted t RJ+ . Each
instance of each job type (serially) invokes or calls a set of processes. There are P types of processes,
and we describe the job-process relation by the P J matrix
Rpj =

1 job j invokes process p

0 otherwise.

The process loads (number of instances per second) are given by = Rt RP , i.e., p is the sum
of the traffic from the jobs that invoke process p.
The latency of a process or job type is the average time that it takes one instance to complete.
These are denoted lproc RP and ljob RJ , respectively, and are related by ljob = RT lproc , i.e.,
ljjob is the sum of the latencies of the processes called by j. Job latency is important to users, since
ljjob is the average time the data center takes to handle an instance of job type j. We are given a
maximum allowed job latency: ljob  lmax .

The process latencies depend on the process load and also how much of n different resources are
made available to them. These resources might include, for example, number of cores, disk storage,
and network bandwidth. Here, we represent amounts of these resources as (nonnegative) real
numbers, so xp Rn+ represents the resources allocated to process p. The process latencies are
given by
lpproc = p (xp , p ), p = 1, . . . , P,
where p : Rn R R {} is a known (extended-valued) convex function. These functions are
nonincreasing in their first (vector) arguments, and nondecreasing in their second arguments (i.e.,
more resources or less load cannot increase latency). We interpret p (xp , p ) = to mean that
the resources given by xp are not sufficient to handle the load p .
We wish to allocate a total resource amount xtot Rn++ among the P processes, so we have
tot
p=1 xp  x . The goal is to minimize the objective function

PP

J
X

j=1

wj (ttar
j tj ) + ,
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is the target traffic level for job type j, wj > 0 give the priorities, and (u)+ is the
where ttar
j
nonnegative part of a vector, i.e., ui = max{ui , 0}. (Thus the objective is a weighted penalty for
missing the target job traffic.) The variables are t RJ+ and xp Rn+ , p = 1, . . . , P . The problem
data are the matrix R, the vectors lmax , xtot , ttar , and w, and the functions p , p = 1, . . . , P .
(a) Explain why this is a convex optimization problem.
(b) Solve the problem instance with data given in res_alloc_stream_data.m, with latency functions
(
1/(aTp xp p ) aTp xp > p , xp  xmin
p
p (xp , p ) =

otherwise
where ap Rn++ and xmin
Rn++ are given data. The vectors ap and xmin
are stored as the
p
p
columns of the matrices A and x_min, respectively.
Give the optimal objective value and job traffic. Compare the optimal job traffic with the
target job traffic.
17.10 Optimal parimutuel betting. In parimutuel betting, participants bet nonnegative amounts on each
of n outcomes, exactly one of which will actually occur. (For example, the outcome can be which
of n horses wins a race.) The total amount bet by all participants on all outcomes is called the pool
or tote. The house takes a commission from the pool (typically around 20%), and the remaining
pool is divided among those who bet on the outcome that occurs, in proportion to their bets on
the outcome. This problem concerns the choice of the amount to bet on each outcome.
Let xi 0 denote the amount we bet on outcome i, so the total amount we bet on all outcomes is
1T x. Let ai > 0 denote the amount bet by all other participants on outcome i, so after the house
commission, the remaining pool is P = (1 c)(1T a + 1T x), where c (0, 1) is the house commission
rate. Our payoff if outcome i occurs is then
pi =

xi
P.
xi + ai


The goal is to choose x, subject to 1T x = B (where B is the total amount to be bet, which is
given), so as to maximize the expected utility
n
X

i U (pi ),

i=1

where i is the probability that outcome i occurs, and U is a concave increasing utility function,
with U (0) = 0. You can assume that ai , i , c, B, and the function U are known.
(a) Explain how to find an optimal x using convex or quasiconvex optimization. If you use a
change of variables, be sure to explain how your variables are related to x.
(b) Suggest a fast method for computing an optimal x. You can assume that U is strictly concave,
and that scalar optimization problems involving U (such as evaluating the conjugate of U )
are easily and quickly solved.
Remarks.
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 To carry out this betting strategy, youd need to know ai , and then be the last participant
to place your bets (so that ai dont subsequently change). Youd also need to know the
probabilities i . These could be estimated using sophisticated machine learning techniques or
insider information.
The formulation above assumes that the total amount to bet (i.e., B) is known. If it is not
known, you could solve the problem above for a range of values of B and use the value of B
that yields the largest optimal expected utility.
17.11 Perturbing a Hamiltonian to maximize an energy gap. A finite dimensional approximation of
a quantum mechanical system is described by its Hamiltonian matrix H Sn . We label the
eigenvalues of H as 1 n , with corresponding orthonormal eigenvectors v1 , . . . , vn . In this
context the eigenvalues are called the energy levels of the system, and the eigenvectors are called
the eigenstates. The eigenstate v1 is called the ground state, and 1 is the ground energy. The
energy gap (between the ground and next state) is = 2 1 .
By changing the environment (say, applying external fields), we can perturb a nominal Hamiltonian
matrix to obtain the perturbed Hamiltonian, which has the form
H = H nom +

k
X

xi Hi .

i=1

Here H nom Sn is the nominal (unperturbed) Hamiltonian, x Rk gives the strength or value of
the perturbations, and H1 , . . . , Hk Sn characterize the perturbations. We have limits for each
perturbation, which we express as |xi | 1, i = 1, . . . , k. The problem is to choose x to maximize
the gap of the perturbed Hamiltonian, subject to the constraint that the perturbed Hamiltonian
H has the same ground state (up to scaling, of course) as the unperturbed Hamiltonian H nom . The
problem data are the nominal Hamiltonian matrix H nom and the perturbation matrices H1 , . . . , Hk .
(a) Explain how to formulate this as a convex or quasiconvex optimization problem. If you change
variables, explain the change of variables clearly.
(b) Carry out the method of part (a) for the problem instance with data given in hamiltonian_gap_data.m.
Give the optimal perturbations, and the energy gap for the nominal and perturbed systems.
The data Hi are given as a cell array; H{i} gives Hi .

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References
[1] T. Ando. Concavity of certain maps on positive definite matrices and applications to Hadamard
products. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 26:203241, 1979.
[2] M. S. Bazaraa, H. D. Sherali, and C. M. Shetty. Nonlinear Programming. Theory and Algorithms. John Wiley & Sons, second edition, 1993.
[3] A. Beck, P. Stoica, and J. Li. Exact and approximate solutions of source localization problems.
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 56:17701778, 2008.
[4] P. Marechal. On a functional operation generating convex functions, part 1: duality. Journal
of Optimization Theory and Applications, 126(1):175189, 2005.
[5] A. W. Roberts and D. E. Varberg. Convex Functions. Academic Press, 1973.
[6] R. T. Rockafellar. Convex Analysis. Princeton University Press, 1970.
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