GNU MathProg is a modeling language intended for describing linear mathematical programming models.1
Model descriptions written in the GNU MathProg language consist of a set of statements and data blocks constructed by the user from the language elements described in this document.
In a process called translation, a program called the model translator analyzes the model description and translates it into internal data structures, which may be then used either for generating mathematical programming problem instance or directly by a program called the solver to obtain numeric solution of the problem.
In MathProg it is assumed that the linear programming (LP) problem has the following statement:
Minimize (or maximize)z = c1 x1 + c2 x2 + ... + cn xn + c0subject to linear constraints
L1 <= a11 x1 + a12 x2 + ... + a1n xn <= U1
L2 <= a21 x1 + a22 x2 + ... + a2n xn <= U2
. . . . .
Lm <= am1 x1 + am2 x2 + ... + amn xn <= Umand bounds of variables
l1 <= x1 <= u1
l2 <= x2 <= u2
. . . . .
ln <= xn <= un
where:
| |
x1, x2, ..., xn | are variables;
|
z | is the objective function;
|
c1, c2, ..., cn | are coefficients of the
objective function;
|
c0 | is the constant term (“shift”) of the objective
function;
|
a11, a12, ..., amn | are constraint
coefficients;
|
L1, L2, ..., Lm | are lower constraint bounds;
|
U1, U2, ..., Um | are upper constraint bounds;
|
l1, l2, ..., ln | are lower bounds of
variables;
|
u1, u2, ..., un | are upper bounds of
variables.
|
Bounds of variables and constraint bounds can be finite as well as infinite. Besides, lower bounds can be equal to corresponding upper bounds. Thus, the following types of variables and constraints are allowed:
−inf < x < +inf Free (unbounded) variable x >= l Variable with lower bound x <= u Variable with upper bound l <= x <= u Double-bounded variable x = l (= u) Fixed variable −inf < sum aj xj < +inf Free (unbounded) linear form sum aj xj >= L Inequality constraint “greater than or equal to” sum aj xj <= U Inequality constraint “less than or equal to” L <= sum aj xj <= U Double-bounded inequality constraint sum aj xj = L (= U) Equality constraint
In addition to pure LP problems MathProg allows mixed integer linear programming (MIP) problems, where some (or all) structural variables are restricted to be integer.
In MathProg the model is described in terms of sets, parameters, variables, constraints, and objectives, which are called model objects.
The user introduces particular model objects using the language statements. Each model object is provided with a symbolic name that uniquely identifies the object and is intended for referencing purposes.
Model objects, including sets, can be multidimensional arrays built over indexing sets. Formally, n-dimensional array A is the mapping:
A : D −> X,
where D within S1 x S2 x ... x Sn is a subset of the Cartesian product of indexing sets, X is a set of the array members. In MathProg the set D is called subscript domain. Its members are n-tuples (i1, i2, ..., in), where i1 in S1, i2 in S2, ..., in in Sn.
If n = 0, the Cartesian product above has exactly one element (namely, 0-tuple), so it is convenient to think scalar objects as 0-dimensional arrays which have one member.
The type of array members is determined by the type of corresponding model object as follows:
Model object Array member Set Elemental plain set Parameter Number or symbol Variable Elemental variable Constraint Elemental constraint Objective Elemental objective
In order to refer to a particular object member the object should be provided with subscripts. For example, if a is 2-dimensional parameter built over I x J, a reference to its particular member can be written as a[i, j], where i in I and j in J. It is understood that scalar objects being 0-dimensional need no subscripts.
It is sometimes desirable to write a model which, at various points, may require different data for each problem to be solved using that model. For this reason in MathProg the model description consists of two parts: model section and data section.
Model section is a main part of the model description that contains declarations of model objects and is common for all problems based on the corresponding model.
Data section is an optional part of the model description that contains data specific for a particular problem.
Depending on what is more convenient model and data sections can be placed either in one file or in two separate files. The latter feature allows to have arbitrary number of different data sections to be used with the same model section.
Model description is coded in plain text format using ASCII character set. Valid characters acceptable in the model description are the following:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z _
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
! " # & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > [ ] ^ { | }
SP HT CR NL VT FF
Within string literals and comments any ASCII characters (except control characters) are valid.
White-space characters are non-significant. They can be used freely between lexical units to improve readability of the model description. They are also used to separate lexical units from each other if there is no other way to do that.
Syntactically model description is a sequence of lexical units in the following categories:
The lexical units of the language are discussed below.
Symbolic name consists of alphabetic and numeric characters, the first of which must be alphabetic. All symbolic names are distinct (case sensitive).
Examples
alpha123 This_is_a_name _P123_abc_321
Symbolic names are used to identify model objects (sets, parameters, variables, constraints, objectives) and dummy indices.
All symbolic names (except names of dummy indices) must be unique, i.e. the model description must have no objects with the same name. Symbolic names of dummy indices must be unique within the scope, where they are valid.
Numeric literal has the form xxE
syy, where xx
is a real number with optional decimal point, s is the sign +
or -
, yy is an integer decimal exponent. The letter E
is case insensitive and can be coded as e
.
Examples
123 3.14159 56.E+5 .78 123.456e-7
Numeric literals are used to represent numeric quantities. They have obvious fixed meaning.
String literal is a sequence of arbitrary characters enclosed either in single quotes or in double quotes. Both these forms are equivalent.
If the single quote is a part of a string literal enclosed in single quotes, it must be coded twice. Analogously, if the double quote is a part of string literal enclosed in double quotes, it must be coded twice.
Examples
'This is a string' "This is another string" '1 + 2 = 3' 'That''s all' "She said: ""No"""
String literals are used to represent symbolic quantities.
Keyword is a sequence of alphabetic characters and possibly some special characters. All keywords fall into two categories: reserved keywords, which cannot be used as symbolic names, and non-reserved keywords, which being recognized by context can be used as symbolic names.
Reserved keywords are the following:
and else mod union by if not within cross in or diff inter symdiff div less then
Non-reserved keywords are described in following sections.
All the keywords have fixed meaning, which will be explained on discussion of corresponding syntactic constructions, where the keywords are used.
Delimiter is either a single special character or a sequence of two special characters as follows:
+ ^ == ! : ) - & >= && ; [ * < > || := | / <= <> . .. { ** = != , ( }
If delimiter consists of two characters, there must be no spaces between the characters.
All the delimiters have fixed meaning, which will be explained on discussion corresponding syntactic constructions, where the delimiters are used.
For documenting purposes the model description can be provided with
comments, which have two different forms. The first form is
a single-line comment, which begins with the character #
and
extends until end of line. The second form is a comment sequence,
which is a sequence of any characters enclosed between /*
and
*/
.
Examples
set s{1..10}; # This is a comment /* This is another comment */
Comments are ignored by the model translator and can appear anywhere in the model description, where white-space characters are allowed.
Expression is a rule for computing a value. In model description expressions are used as constituents of certain statements.
In general case expressions consist of operands and operators.
Depending on the type of the resultant value all expressions fall into the following categories:
Numeric expression is a rule for computing a single numeric value represented in the form of floating-point number.
The primary numeric expression may be a numeric literal, dummy index, unsubscripted parameter, subscripted parameter, built-in function reference, iterated numeric expression, conditional numeric expression, or another numeric expression enclosed in parentheses.
Examples
1.23 (numeric literal) j (dummy index) time (unsubscripted parameter) a['May 2003',j+1] (subscripted parameter) abs(b[i,j]) (function reference) sum{i in S diff T} alpha[i] * b[i,j] (iterated expression) if i in I then 2 * p else q[i+1] (conditional expression) (b[i,j] + .5 * c) (parenthesized expression)
More general numeric expressions containing two or more primary numeric expressions may be constructed by using certain arithmetic operators.
Examples
j+1 2 * a[i-1,j+1] - b[i,j] sum{j in J} a[i,j] * x[j] + sum{k in K} b[i,k] * x[k] (if i in I then 2 * p else q[i+1]) / (a[i,j] + 1.5)
If the primary numeric expression is a numeric literal, the resultant value is obvious.
If the primary numeric expression is a dummy index, the resultant value is current value assigned to the dummy index.
If the primary numeric expression is an unsubscripted parameter (which must be 0-dimensional), the resultant value is the value of the parameter.
The primary numeric expression, which refers to a subscripted parameter, has the following syntactic form:
name[i1, i2, ..., in],
where name is the symbolic name of the parameter, i1, i2, ..., in are subscripts.
Each subscript must be a numeric or symbolic expression. The number of subscripts in the subscript list must be the same as the dimension of the parameter with which the subscript list is associated.
Actual values of subscript expressions are used to identify a particular member of the parameter that determines the resultant value of the primary expression.
In MathProg there are the following built-in functions which may be used in numeric expressions:
abs(x) absolute value atan(x) trigonometric arctangent arctan x (in radians) atan(y, x) trigonometric arctangent arctan y/x (in radians) card(x) cardinality (the number of elements) of set x ceil(x) smallest integer not less than x (“ceiling of x”) cos(x) trigonometric cosine cos x (in radians) exp(x) base-e exponential e^x floor(x) largest integer not greater than x (“floor of x”) gmtime() the number of seconds elapsed since 00:00:00 Jan 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time2 length(x) length of character string x log(x) natural logarithm log x log10(x) common (decimal) logarithm log10 x max(x1, ..., xn) the largest of values x1, ..., xn min(x1, ..., xn) the smallest of values x1, ..., xn round(x) rounding x to nearest integer round(x, n) rounding x to n fractional decimal digits sin(x) trigonometric sine sin x (in radians) sqrt(x) square root of x str2time(s, f) converting character string s to calendar time3 trunc(x) truncating x to nearest integer trunc(x, n) truncating x to n fractional decimal digits Irand224() pseudo-random integer uniformly distributed in [0,2^24) Uniform01() pseudo-random number uniformly distributed in [0,1) Uniform(a, b) pseudo-random number uniformly distributed in [a, b) Normal01() Gaussian pseudo-random variate with mu = 0 and sigma = 1 Normal(mu, sigma) Gaussian pseudo-random variate with given mu and sigma
Arguments of all built-in functions, except card
, length
,
and str2time
, must be numeric expressions. The argument of
card
must be a set expression. The argument of length
and
both arguments of str2time
must be symbolic expressions.
The resultant value of the numeric expression, which is a function reference, is the result of applying the function to its argument(s).
Note that each pseudo-random generator function have a latent argument (i.e. some internal state), which is changed whenever the function has been applied. Thus, if the function is applied repeatedly even to identical arguments, due to the side effect different resultant values are always produced.
Iterated numeric expression is a primary numeric expression, which has the following syntactic form:
iterated-operator indexing-expression integrand
where iterated-operator is the symbolic name of the iterated operator to be performed (see below), indexing expression is an indexing expression which introduces dummy indices and controls iterating, integrand is a numeric expression that participates in the operation.
In MathProg there are four iterated operators, which may be used in numeric expressions:
sum summation of x(i1, ..., in) for all (i1, ..., in) in D prod production of x(i1, ..., in) for all (i1, ..., in) in D min minimum of x(i1, ..., in) for all (i1, ..., in) in D max maximum of x(i1, ..., in) for all (i1, ..., in) in D
where i1, ..., in are dummy indices introduced in the indexing expression, D is the domain, a set of n-tuples specified by the indexing expression which defines particular values assigned to the dummy indices on performing the iterated operation, x(i1, ..., in) is the integrand, a numeric expression whose resultant value depends on the dummy indices.
The resultant value of an iterated numeric expression is the result of applying of the iterated operator to its integrand over all n-tuples contained in the domain.
Conditional numeric expression is a primary numeric expression, which has one of the following two syntactic forms:
if b then x else yif b then x
where b is an logical expression, x and y are numeric expressions.
The resultant value of the conditional expression depends on the value
of the logical expression that follows the keyword if
. If it
takes on the value true, the value of the conditional expression is
the value of the expression that follows the keyword then
.
Otherwise, if the logical expression takes on the value false, the
value of the conditional expression is the value of the expression that
follows the keyword else
. If the reduced form of the conditional
expression is used and the logical expression takes on the value
false, the resultant value of the conditional expression is zero.
Any numeric expression may be enclosed in parentheses that syntactically makes it primary numeric expression.
Parentheses may be used in numeric expressions, as in algebra, to specify the desired order in which operations are to be performed. Where parentheses are used, the expression within the parentheses is evaluated before the resultant value is used.
The resultant value of the parenthesized expression is the same as the value of the expression enclosed within parentheses.
In MathProg there are the following arithmetic operators, which may be used in numeric expressions:
+ x unary plus - x unary minus x + y addition x - y subtraction x less y positive difference (if x < y then 0 else x − y) x * y multiplication x / y division x div y quotient of exact division x mod y remainder of exact division x ** y, x ^ y exponentiation (raise to power)
where x and y are numeric expressions.
If the expression includes more than one arithmetic operator, all operators are performed from left to right according to the hierarchy of operations (see below) with the only exception that the exponentiaion operators are performed from right to left.
The resultant value of the expression, which contains arithmetic operators, is the result of applying the operators to their operands.
The following list shows the hierarchy of operations in numeric expressions:
Operation Hierarchy Evaluation of functions (abs, ceil, etc.) 1st Exponentiation (**, ^) 2nd Unary plus and minus (+, -) 3rd Multiplication and division (*, /, div, mod) 4th Iterated operations (sum, prod, min, max) 5th Addition and subtraction (+, -, less) 6th Conditional evaluation (if ... then ... else) 7th
This hierarchy is used to determine which of two consecutive operations is performed first. If the first operator is higher than or equal to the second, the first operation is performed. If it is not, the second operator is compared to the third, etc. When the end of the expression is reached, all of the remaining operations are performed in the reverse order.
Symbolic expression is a rule for computing a single symbolic value represented in the form of character string.
The primary symbolic expression may be a string literal, dummy index, unsubscripted parameter, subscripted parameter, built-in function reference, conditional symbolic expression, or another symbolic expression enclosed in parentheses.
It is also allowed to use a numeric expression as the primary symbolic expression, in which case the resultant value of the numeric expression is automatically converted to the symbolic type.
Examples
'May 2003' (string literal) j (dummy index) p (unsubscripted parameter) s['abc',j+1] (subscripted parameter) substr(name[i],k+1,3) (function reference) if i in I then s[i,j] else t[i+1] (conditional expression) ((10 * b[i,j]) & '.bis') (parenthesized expression)
More general symbolic expressions containing two or more primary symbolic expressions may be constructed by using the concatenation operator.
Examples
'abc[' & i & ',' & j & ']' "from " & city[i] & " to " & city[j]
The principles of evaluation of symbolic expressions are completely analogous to that ones given for numeric expressions (see above).
In MathProg there are the following built-in functions which may be used in symbolic expressions:
substr(x, y) substring of x starting from position y substr(x, y, z) substring of x starting from position y and having length z time2str(t, f) converting calendar time to character string4
The first argument of substr
must be a symbolic expression while
its second and optional third arguments must be numeric expressions.
The first argument of time2str
must be a numeric expression, and
its second argument must be a symbolic expression.
The resultant value of the symbolic expression, which is a function reference, is the result of applying the function to its arguments.
Currently in MathProg there is the only symbolic operator:
x & y
where x and y are symbolic expressions. This operator means concatenation of its two symbolic operands, which are character strings.
The following list shows the hierarchy of operations in symbolic expressions:
Operation Hierarchy Evaluation of numeric operations 1st-7th Concatenation (&) 8th Conditional evaluation (if ... then ... else) 9th
This hierarchy has the same meaning as explained in Section “Numeric expressions”.
Indexing expression is an auxiliary construction, which specifies a plain set of n-tuples and introduces dummy indices. It has two syntactic forms:
{ entry-1, entry-2, ..., entry-m }{ entry-1, entry-2, ..., entry-m : predicate }
where entry-1, entry-2, ..., entry-m are indexing entries, predicate is a logical expression which specifies an optional predicate.
Each indexing entry in the indexing expression has one of the following three forms:
t in S(t1, t2, ..., tk) in S
S
where t1, t2, ..., tk are indices, S is a set expression (discussed in the next section), which specifies the basic set.
The number of indices in the indexing entry must be the same as the dimension of the basic set S, i.e. if S consists of 1-tuples, the first form must be used, and if S consists of n-tuples, where n > 1, the second form must be used.
If the first form of the indexing entry is used, the index t can be a dummy index only. If the second form is used, the indices t1, t2, ..., tk can be either dummy indices or some numeric or symbolic expressions, where at least one index must be a dummy index. The third, reduced form of the indexing entry has the same effect as if there were t (if S is 1-dimensional) or t1, t2, ..., tk (if S is n-dimensional) all specified as dummy indices.
Dummy index is an auxiliary model object, which acts like an individual variable. Values assigned to dummy indices are components of n-tuples from basic sets, i.e. some numeric and symbolic quantities.
For referencing purposes dummy indices can be provided with symbolic names. However, unlike other model objects (sets, parameters, etc.) dummy indices do not need to be explicitly declared. Each undeclared symbolic name being used in the indexing position of an indexing entry is recognized as the symbolic name of corresponding dummy index.
Symbolic names of dummy indices are valid only within the scope of the indexing expression, where the dummy indices were introduced. Beyond the scope the dummy indices are completely inaccessible, so the same symbolic names may be used for other purposes, in particular, to represent dummy indices in other indexing expressions.
The scope of indexing expression, where implicit declarations of dummy indices are valid, depends on the context, in which the indexing expression is used:
The indexing mechanism implemented by means of indexing expressions is best explained by some examples discussed below.
Let there be three sets:
A = {4, 7, 9}B = {(1,Jan), (1,Feb), (2,Mar), (2,Apr), (3,May), (3,Jun)}
C = {a, b, c}
where A and C consist of 1-tuples (singles), B consists of 2-tuples (doubles). And consider the following indexing expression:
{i in A, (j,k) in B, l in C}
where i, j, k, and l are dummy indices.
Although MathProg is not a procedural language, for any indexing expression an equivalent algorithmic description could be given. In particular, the algorithmic description of the indexing expression above is the following:
for all i in A do for all (j,k) in B do for all l in C do action;
where the dummy indices i, j, k, l are consecutively
assigned corresponding components of n-tuples from the basic sets
A, B, C, and action
is some action that depends on
the context, where the indexing expression is used. For example, if the
action
were printing current values of dummy indices, the output
would look like follows:
i = 4 j = 1 k = Jan l = a i = 4 j = 1 k = Jan l = b i = 4 j = 1 k = Jan l = c i = 4 j = 1 k = Feb l = a i = 4 j = 1 k = Feb l = b ... ... ... ... i = 9 j = 3 k = Jun l = b i = 9 j = 3 k = Jun l = c
Let the example indexing expression be used in the following iterated operation:
sum{i in A, (j,k) in B, l in C} p[i,j,k,l]
where p[i, j, k, l] may be a 4-dimensional numeric parameter or some numeric expression whose resultant value depends on i, j, k, and l. In this case the action is summation, so the resultant value of the primary numeric expression is the sum of p[i, j, k, l], where summation is performed over all i in A, (j,k) in B, and l in C.
Now let the example indexing expression be used as a primary set expression. In this case the action is gathering all 4-tuples (quadruples) of the form (i, j, k, l) in one set, so the resultant value of such operation is simply the Cartesian product of the basic sets:
A x B x C = {(i,j,k,l) : i in A, (j,k) in B, l in C}
Note that in this case the same indexing expression might be written in the reduced form:
{A, B, C}
because the dummy indices i, j, k, and l are not referenced and therefore their symbolic names are not needed.
Finally, let the example indexing expression be used as the subscript domain in the declaration of a 4-dimensional model object, say, a numeric parameter:
par p{i in A, (j,k) in B, l in C} ... ;
In this case the action is generating the parameter members, where each member has the form p[i, j, k, l].
As was said above, some indices in the second form of indexing entries may be numeric or symbolic expressions, not only dummy indices. In this case resultant values of such expressions play role of some logical conditions to select only that n-tuples from the Cartesian product of basic sets, which satisfy these conditions.
Consider, for example, the following indexing expression:
{i in A, (i-1,k) in B, l in C}
where i, k, l are dummy indices, and i−1 is a numeric expression. The algorithmic decsription of this indexing expression is the following:
for all i in A do for all (j,k) in B and j = i-1 do for all l in C do action;
Thus, if this indexing expression were used as a primary set expression, the resultant set would be the following:
{(4,May,a), (4,May,b), (4,May,c), (4,Jun,a), (4,Jun,b), (4,Jun,c)}.
Should note that in this case the resultant set consists of 3-tuples, not of 4-tuples, because in the indexing expression there is no dummy index that corresponds to the first component of 2-tuples from the set B.
The general rule is: the number of components of n-tuples defined by an indexing expression is the same as the number of dummy indices in that indexing expression, where the correspondence between dummy indices and components on n-tuples in the resultant set is positional, i.e. the first dummy index corresponds to the first component, the second dummy index corresponds to the second component, etc.
In many cases it is needed to select a subset from the Cartesian product of some sets. This may be attained by using an optional logical predicate, which is specified in indexing expression after the last or the only indexing entry.
Consider, for another example, the following indexing expression:
{i in A, (j,k) in B, l in C: i <= 5 and k <> 'Mar'}
where the logical expression following the colon is a predicate. The algorithmic description of this indexing expression is the following:
for all i in A do for all (j,k) in B do for all l in C do if i <= 5 and k != 'Mar' then action;
Thus, if this indexing expression were used as a primary set expression, the resultant set would be the following:
{(4,1,Jan,a), (4,1,Feb,a), (4,2,Apr,a), ..., (4,3,Jun,c)}.
If no predicate is specified in the indexing expression, the one, which takes on the value true, is assumed.
Set expression is a rule for computing an elemental set, i.e. a collection of n-tuples, where components of n-tuples are numeric and symbolic quantities.
The primary set expression may be a literal set, unsubscripted set, subscripted set, “arithmetic” set, indexing expression, iterated set expression, conditional set expression, or another set expression enclosed in parentheses.
Examples
{(123,'aa'), (i,'bb'), (j-1,'cc')} (literal set) I (unsubscripted set) S[i-1,j+1] (subscripted set) 1..t-1 by 2 (“arithmetic” set) {t in 1..T, (t+1,j) in S: (t,j) in F} (indexing expression) setof{i in I, j in J}(i+1,j-1) (iterated expression) if i < j then S[i] else F diff S[j] (conditional expression) (1..10 union 21..30) (parenthesized expression)
More general set expressions containing two or more primary set expressions may be constructed by using certain set operators.
Examples
(A union B) inter (I cross J) 1..10 cross (if i < j then {'a', 'b', 'c'} else {'d', 'e', 'f'})
Literal set is a primary set expression, which has the following two syntactic forms:
{e1, e2, ..., em}{(e11, ..., e1n), (e21, ..., e2n), ..., (em1, ..., emn)}
where e1, ..., em, e11, ..., emn are numeric or symbolic expressions.
If the first form is used, the resultant set consists of 1-tuples (singles) enumerated within the curly braces. It is allowed to specify an empty set, which has no 1-tuples.
If the second form is used, the resultant set consists of n-tuples enumerated within the curly braces, where a particular n-tuple consists of corresponding components enumerated within the parentheses. All n-tuples must have the same number of components.
If the primary set expression is an unsubscripted set (which must be 0-dimensional), the resultant set is an elemental set associated with the corresponding set object.
The primary set expression, which refers to a subscripted set, has the following syntactic form:
name[i1, i2, ..., in],
where name is the symbolic name of the set object, i1, i2, ..., in are subscripts.
Each subscript must be a numeric or symbolic expression. The number of subscripts in the subscript list must be the same as the dimension of the set object with which the subscript list is associated.
Actual values of subscript expressions are used to identify a particular member of the set object that determines the resultant set.
The primary set expression, which is an “arithmetic” set, has the following two syntactic forms:
t0 .. tf by dtt0 .. tf
where t0, t1, and dt are numeric expressions (the value of dt must not be zero). The second form is equivalent to the first form, where dt = 1.
If dt > 0, the resultant set is determined as follows:
{t: exists k in Z (t = t0 + k dt, t0 <= t <= tf)}
Otherwise, if dt < 0, the resultant set is determined as follows:
{t: exists k in Z (t = t0 + k dt, tf <= t <= t0)}
If the primary set expression is an indexing expression, the resultant set is determined as described in Section “Indexing expressions and dummy indices” (see above).
Iterated set expression is a primary set expression, which has the following syntactic form:
setof indexing-expression integrand
where indexing-expression is an indexing expression which introduces dummy indices and controls iterating, integrand is either a single numeric or symbolic expression or a list of numeric and symbolic expressions separated by commae and enclosed in parentheses.
If the integrand is a single numeric or symbolic expression, the resultant set consists of 1-tuples and is determined as follows:
{x: (i1, ..., in) in D},
where x is a value of the integrand, i1, ..., in are dummy indices introduced in the indexing expression, D is the domain, a set of n-tuples specified by the indexing expression which defines particular values assigned to the dummy indices on performing the iterated operation.
If the integrand is a list containing m numeric and symbolic expressions, the resultant set consists of m-tuples and is determined as follows:
{(x1, ..., xm): (i1, ..., in) in D},
where x1, ..., xm are values of the expressions in the integrand list, i1, ..., in and D have the same meaning as above.
Conditional set expression is a primary set expression that has the following syntactic form:
if b then X else Y
where b is an logical expression, X and Y are set expressions, which must define sets of the same dimension.
The resultant value of the conditional expression depends on the value of the logical expression that follows the keyword if. If it takes on the value true, the resultant set is the value of the expression that follows the keyword then. Otherwise, if the logical expression takes on the value false, the resultant set is the value of the expression that follows the keyword else.
Any set expression may be enclosed in parentheses that syntactically makes it primary set expression.
Parentheses may be used in set expressions, as in algebra, to specify the desired order in which operations are to be performed. Where parentheses are used, the expression within the parentheses is evaluated before the resultant value is used.
The resultant value of the parenthesized expression is the same as the value of the expression enclosed within parentheses.
In MathProg there are the following set operators, which may be used in set expressions:
X union Y union X diff Y difference X symdiff Y symmetric difference X inter Y intersection X cross Y cross (Cartesian) product
where X and Y are set expressions, which must define sets of the identical dimension (except for the Cartesian product).
If the expression includes more than one set operator, all operators are performed from left to right according to the hierarchy of operations (see below).
The resultant value of the expression, which contains set operators, is the result of applying the operators to their operands.
The dimension of the resultant set, i.e. the dimension of n-tuples, of which the resultant set consists of, is the same as the dimension of the operands, except the Cartesian product, where the dimension of the resultant set is the sum of dimensions of the operands.
The following list shows the hierarchy of operations in set expressions:
Operation Hierarchy Evaluation of numeric operations 1st-7th Evaluation of symbolic operations 8th-9th Evaluation of iterated or “arithmetic” set (setof, ..) 10th Cartesian product (cross) 11th Intersection (inter) 12th Union and difference (union, diff, symdiff) 13th Conditional evaluation (if ... then ... else) 14th
This hierarchy is used to determine which of two consecutive operations is performed first. If the first operator is higher than or equal to the second, the first operation is performed. If it is not, the second operator is compared to the third, etc. When the end of the expression is reached, all of the remaining operations are performed in the reverse order.
Logical expression is a rule for computing a single logical value, which can be either true or false.
The primary logical expression may be a numeric expression, relational expression, iterated logical expression, or another logical expression enclosed in parentheses.
Examples
i+1 (numeric expression) a[i,j] < 1.5 (relational expression) s[i+1,j-1] <> 'Mar' & year (relational expression) (i+1,'Jan') not in I cross J (relational expression) S union T within A[i] inter B[j] (relational expression) forall{i in I, j in J} a[i,j] < .5 * b (iterated expression) (a[i,j] < 1.5 or b[i] >= a[i,j]) (parenthesized expression)
More general logical expressions containing two or more primary logical expressions may be constructed by using certain logical operators.
Examples
not (a[i,j] < 1.5 or b[i] >= a[i,j]) and (i,j) in S (i,j) in S or (i,j) not in T diff U
The resultant value of the primary logical expression, which is a numeric expression, is true, if the resultant value of the numeric expression is non-zero. Otherwise the resultant value of the logical expression is false.
In MathProg there are the following relational operators, which may be used in logical expressions:
x < y test on x < y x <= y test on x <= y x = y, x == y test on x = y x >= y test on x >= y x <> y, x != y test on x != y x in Y test on x in Y (x1,...,xn) in Y test on (x1,...,xn) in Y x not in Y, x !in Y test on x not in Y (x1,...,xn) not in Y, (x1,...,xn) !in Y test on (x1,...,xn) not in Y X within Y test on X within Y X not within Y, X !within Y test on X not within Y
where x, x1, ..., xn, y are numeric or symbolic expressions, X and Y are set expression.
Note:
- In the operations in, not in, and !in the number of components in the first operands must be the same as the dimension of the second operand.
- In the operations within, not within, and !within both operands must have identical dimension.
All the relational operators listed above have their conventional mathematical meaning. The resultant value is true, if the corresponding relation is satisfied for its operands, otherwise false. (Note that symbolic values are ordered lexicographically, and any numeric value precedes any symbolic value.)
Iterated logical expression is a primary logical expression, which has the following syntactic form:
iterated-operator indexing-expression integrand
where iterated-operator is the symbolic name of the iterated operator to be performed (see below), indexing expression is an indexing expression which introduces dummy indices and controls iterating, integrand is a logical expression that participates in the operation.
In MathProg there are two iterated operators, which may be used in logical expressions:
forall A-quantification for all (i1,...,in) in D: x(i1,...,in) exists E-quantification exists (i1,...,in) in D: x(i1,...,in)
where i1, ..., in are dummy indices introduced in the indexing expression, D is the domain, a set of n-tuples specified by the indexing expression which defines particular values assigned to the dummy indices on performing the iterated operation, x(i1,...,in) is the integrand, a logical expression whose resultant value depends on the dummy indices.
For A-quantification the resultant value of the iterated logical expression is true, if the value of the integrand is true for all n-tuples contained in the domain, otherwise false.
For E-quantification the resultant value of the iterated logical expression is false, if the value of the integrand is false for all n-tuples contained in the domain, otherwise true.
Any logical expression may be enclosed in parentheses that syntactically makes it primary logical expression.
Parentheses may be used in logical expressions, as in algebra, to specify the desired order in which operations are to be performed. Where parentheses are used, the expression within the parentheses is evaluated before the resultant value is used.
The resultant value of the parenthesized expression is the same as the value of the expression enclosed within parentheses.
In MathProg there are the following logical operators, which may be used in logical expressions:
not x, ! x negation x and y, x && y conjunction (logical “and”) x or y, x || y disjunction (logical “or”)
where x and y are logical expressions.
If the expression includes more than one logical operator, all operators are performed from left to right according to the hierarchy of operations (see below).
The resultant value of the expression, which contains logical operators, is the result of applying the operators to their operands.
The following list shows the hierarchy of operations in logical expressions:
Operation Hierarchy Evaluation of numeric operations 1st-7th Evaluation of symbolic operations 8th-9th Evaluation of set operations 10th-14th Relational operations (<, <=, etc.) 15th Negation (not, !) 16th Conjunction (and, &&) 17th A- and E-quantification (forall, exists) 18th Disjunction (or, ||) 19th
This hierarchy has the same meaning as explained in Section “Numeric expressions”.
Linear expression is a rule for computing so called linear form or simply formula, which is a linear (or affine) function of elemental variables.
The primary linear expression may be an unsubscripted variable, subscripted variable, iterated linear expression, conditional linear expression, or another linear expression enclosed in parentheses.
It is also allowed to use a numeric expression as the primary linear expression, in which case the resultant value of the numeric expression is automatically converted to the formula that includes the only constant term.
Examples
z (unsubscripted variable) x[i,j] (subscripted variable) sum{j in J} (a[i] * x[i,j] + 3 * y) (iterated expression) if i in I then x[i,j] else 1.5 * z + 3 (conditional expression) (a[i,j] * x[i,j] + y[i-1] + .1) (parenthesized expression)
More general linear expressions containing two or more primary linear expressions may be constructed by using certain arithmetic operators.
Examples
2 * x[i-1,j+1] + 3.5 * y[k] + .5 * z (- x[i,j] + 3.5 * y[k]) / sum{t in T} abs(d[i,j,t])
If the primary linear expression is an unsubscripted variable (which must be 0-dimensional), the resultant formula is that unsubscripted variable.
The primary linear expression, which refers to a subscripted variable, has the following syntactic form:
name[i1, i2, ..., in],
where name is the symbolic name of the variable, i1, i2, ..., in are subscripts.
Each subscript must be a numeric or symbolic expression. The number of subscripts in the subscript list must be the same as the dimension of the variable with which the subscript list is associated.
Actual values of subscript expressions are used to identify a particular member of the model variable that determines the resultant formula, which is an elemental variable associated with the corresponding member.
Iterated linear expression is a primary linear expression, which has the following syntactic form:
sum indexing-expression integrand
where indexing-expression is an indexing expression which introduces dummy indices and controls iterating, integrand is a linear expression that participates in the operation.
The iterated linear expression is evaluated exactly in the same way as the iterated numeric expression (see Section “Numeric expressions” above) with the exception that the integrand participated in the summation is a formula, not a numeric value.
Conditional linear expression is a primary linear expression, which has one of the following two syntactic forms:
if b then f else gif b then f
where b is an logical expression, f and g are linear expressions.
The conditional linear expression is evaluated exactly in the same way as the conditional numeric expression (see Section “Numeric expressions” above) with the exception that operands participated in the operation are formulae, not numeric values.
Any linear expression may be enclosed in parentheses that syntactically makes it primary linear expression.
Parentheses may be used in linear expressions, as in algebra, to specify the desired order in which operations are to be performed. Where parentheses are used, the expression within the parentheses is evaluated before the resultant formula is used.
The resultant value of the parenthesized expression is the same as the value of the expression enclosed within parentheses.
In MathProg there are the following arithmetic operators, which may be used in linear expressions:
+ f unary plus - f unary minus f + g addition f - g subtraction x * f, f * x multiplication f / x division
where f and g are linear expressions, x is a numeric expression (more precisely, a linear expression containing the constant term only).
If the expression includes more than one arithmetic operator, all operators are performed from left to right according to the hierarchy of operations (see below).
The resultant value of the expression, which contains arithmetic operators, is the result of applying the operators to their operands.
The hierarchy of arithmetic operations used in linear expressions is the same as for numeric expressions (for details see Section “Numeric expressions” above).
Statements are basic units of the model description. In MathProg all statements are divided into two categories: declaration statements and functional statements.
Declaration statements (set statement, parameter statement, variable statement, constraint statement, and objective statement) are used to declare model objects of certain kinds and define certain properties of that objects.
Functional statements (solve statement, check statement, display statement, printf statement, loop statement) are intended for performing some specific actions.
Note that declaration statements may follow in arbitrary order which does not affect the result of translation. However, any model object must be declared before it is referenced in other statements.
set name alias domain , attrib , ... , attrib ; |
Optional attributes:
Examples
set V; set E within V cross V; set step{s in 1..maxiter} dimen 2 := if s = 1 then E else step[s-1] union setof{k in V, (i,k) in step[s-1], (k,j) in step[s-1]}(i,j); set A{i in I, j in J}, within B[i+1] cross C[j-1], within D diff E, default {('abc',123), (321,'cba')};
The set statement declares a set. If the subscript domain is not specified, the set is a simple set, otherwise it is an array of elemental sets.
The dimen
attribute specifies dimension of n-tuples, which
the set (if it is a simple set) or its members (if the set is an array
of elemental sets) consist of, where n must be unsigned integer from
1 to 20. At most one dimen
attribute can be specified. If the
dimen
attribute is not specified, dimension of n-tuples is
implicitly determined by other attributes (for example, if there is a
set expression that follows :=
or the keyword default
, the
dimension of n-tuples of the corresponding elemental set is used).
If no dimension information is available, dimen 1
is assumed.
The within
attribute specifies a set expression whose resultant
value is a superset used to restrict the set (if it is a simple set) or
its members (if the set is an array of elemental sets) to be within this
superset. Arbitrary number of within
attributes may be specified
in the same set statement.
The assign (:=
) attribute specifies a set expression used to
evaluate elemental set(s) assigned to the set (if it is a simple set) or
its members (if the set is an array of elemental sets). If the assign
attribute is specified, the set is computable and therefore needs
no data to be provided in the data section. If the assign attribute is
not specified, the set must be provided with data in the data section.
At most one assign or default
attribute can be specified for the
same set.
The default
attribute specifies a set expression used to
evaluate elemental set(s) assigned to the set (if it is a simple set) or
its members (if the set is an array of elemental sets) whenever
no appropriate data are available in the data section. If neither assign
nor default
attribute is specified, missing data will cause an
error.
param name alias domain , attrib , ... , attrib ; |
Optional attributes:
Examples
param units{raw, prd} >= 0; param profit{prd, 1..T+1}; param N := 20, integer, >= 0, <= 100; param comb 'n choose k' {n in 0..N, k in 0..n} := if k = 0 or k = n then 1 else comb[n-1,k-1] + comb[n-1,k]; param p{i in I, j in J}, integer, >= 0, <= i+j, in A[i] symdiff B[j], in C[i,j], default 0.5 * (i + j); param month symbolic default 'May' in {'Mar', 'Apr', 'May'};
The parameter statement declares a parameter. If the subscript domain is not specified, the parameter is a simple (scalar) parameter, otherwise it is a n-dimensional array.
The type attributes integer
, binary
, and symbolic
qualify the type values which can be assigned to the parameter as shown
below:
Type attribute Assigned values not specified Any numeric values integer Only integer numeric values binary Either 0 or 1 symbolic Any numeric and symbolic values
The symbolic
attribute cannot be specified along with other
type attributes. Being specified it must precede all other attributes.
The condition attribute specifies an optional condition that restricts values assigned to the parameter to satisfy this condition. This attribute has the following syntactic forms:
< v Check for x < v <= v Check for x <= v = v, == v Check for x = v >= v Check for x >= v > v Check for x > v <> v, != v Check for x != v
where x is a value assigned to the parameter, v is the resultant value of a numeric or symbolic expression specified in the condition attribute. Arbitrary number of condition attributes can be specified for the same parameter. If a value being assigned to the parameter during model evaluation violates at least one specified condition, an error is raised. (Note that symbolic values are ordered lexicographically, and any numeric value precedes any symbolic value.)
The in
attribute is similar to the condition attribute and
specifies a set expression whose resultant value is a superset used
to restrict numeric or symbolic values assigned to the parameter to be
in this superset. Arbitrary number of the in
attributes can be
specified for the same parameter. If a value being assigned to the
parameter during model evaluation is not in at least one specified
superset, an error is raised.
The assign (:=
) attribute specifies a numeric or symbolic
expression used to compute a value assigned to the parameter (if it is
a simple parameter) or its member (if the parameter is an array). If the
assign attribute is specified, the parameter is computable and
therefore needs no data to be provided in the data section. If the
assign attribute is not specified, the parameter must be provided with
data in the data section. At most one assign or default
attribute can be specified for the same parameter.
The default
attribute specifies a numeric or symbolic
expression used to compute a value assigned to the parameter or its
member whenever no appropriate data are available in the data section.
If neither assign nor default
attribute is specified, missing
data will cause an error.
var name alias domain , attrib , ... , attrib ; |
Optional attributes:
Examples
var x >= 0; var y{I,J}; var make{p in prd}, integer, >= commit[p], <= market[p]; var store{raw, 1..T+1} >= 0; var z{i in I, j in J} >= i+j;
The variable statement declares a variable. If the subscript domain is not specified, the variable is a simple (scalar) variable, otherwise it is a n-dimensional array of elemental variables.
Elemental variable(s) associated with the model variable (if it is a simple variable) or its members (if it is an array) correspond to the variables in the LP/MIP problem formulation (see Section “Linear programming problem”). Note that only the elemental variables actually referenced in some constraints and/or objectives are included in the LP/MIP problem instance to be generated.
The type attributes integer
and binary
restrict the
variable to be integer or binary, respectively. If no type attribute
is specified, the variable is continuous. If all variables in the model
are continuous, the corresponding problem is of LP class. If there is
at least one integer or binary variable, the problem is of MIP class.
The lower bound (>=
) attribute specifies a numeric expression
for computing the lower bound of the variable. At most one lower bound
can be specified. By default all variables (except binary ones) have
no lower bounds, so if a variable is required to be non-negative, its
zero lower bound should be explicitly specified.
The upper bound (<=
) attribute specifies a numeric expression
for computing the upper bound of the variable. At most one upper bound
attribute can be specified.
The fixed value (=
) attribute specifies a numeric expression
for computing the value, at which the variable is fixed. This attribute
cannot be specified along with lower/upper bound attributes.
subject to name alias domain :
expression , = expression ;
subject to name alias domain : expression , <= expression ; subject to name alias domain : expression , >= expression ; subject to name alias domain : expression , <= expression , <= expression ; subject to name alias domain : expression , >= expression , >= expression ; |
subject to
may be reduced to subj to
, or to
s.t.
, or be omitted at all.
Examples
s.t. r: x + y + z, >= 0, <= 1; limit{t in 1..T}: sum{j in prd} make[j,t] <= max_prd; subject to balance{i in raw, t in 1..T}: store[i,t+1] - store[i,t] - sum{j in prd} units[i,j] * make[j,t]; subject to rlim 'regular-time limit' {t in time}: sum{p in prd} pt[p] * rprd[p,t] <= 1.3 * dpp[t] * crews[t];
The constraint statement declares a constraint. If the subscript domain is not specified, the constraint is a simple (scalar) constraint, otherwise it is a n-dimensional array of elemental constraints.
Elemental constraint(s) associated with the model constraint (if it is a simple constraint) or its members (if it is an array) correspond to the linear constraints in the LP/MIP problem formulation (see Section “Linear programming problem”).
If the constraint has the form of equality or single inequality, i.e.
includes two expressions, one of which follows the colon and other
follows the relation sign =
, <=
, or >=
, both
expressions in the statement can be linear expressions. If the
constraint has the form of double inequality, i.e. includes three
expressions, the middle expression can be a linear expression while the
leftmost and rightmost ones can be only numeric expressions.
Generating the model is, generally speaking, generating its constraints, which are always evaluated for the entire subscript domain. Evaluating constraints leads, in turn, to evaluating other model objects such as sets, parameters, and variables.
Constructing the actual linear constraint included in the problem instantce, which (constraint) corresponds to a particular elemental constraint, is performed as follows.
If the constraint has the form of equality or single inequality, evaluation of both linear expressions gives two resultant linear forms:
f = a1 x1 + a2 x2 + ... + an xn + a0,g = b1 x1 + b2 x2 + ... + bn xn + b0,
where x1, x2, ..., xn are elemental variables, a1, a2, ..., an, b1, b2, ..., bn are numeric coefficients, a0 and b0 are constant terms. Then all linear terms of f and g are carried to the left-hand side, and the constant terms are carried to the right-hand side that gives the final elemental constraint in the standard form:
(a1 − b1) x1 + (a2 − b2) x2 + ... + (an − bn) xn {= | <= | =>} b0 − a0
If the constraint has the form of double inequality, evaluation of the middle linear expression gives the resultant linear form:
f = a1 x1 + a2 x2 + ... + an xn + a0,
and evaluation of the leftmost and rightmost numeric expressions gives two numeric values l and u. Then the constant term of the linear form is carried to both left-hand and right-hand sides that gives the final elemental constraint in the standard form:
l − a0 <= a1 x1 + a2 x2 + ... + an xn <= u − a0.
minimize name alias domain :
expression ;
maximize name alias domain : expression ; |
Examples
minimize obj: x + 1.5 * (y + z); maximize total_profit: sum{p in prd} profit[p] * make[p];
The objective statement declares an objective. If the subscript domain is not specified, the objective is a simple (scalar) objective. Otherwise it is a n-dimensional array of elemental objectives.
Elemental objective(s) associated with the model objective (if it is a simple objective) or its members (if it is an array) correspond to general linear constraints in the LP/MIP problem formulation (see Section “Linear programming problem”). However, unlike constraints the corresponding linear forms are free (unbounded).
Constructing the actual linear constraint included in the problem instance, which (constraint) corresponds to a particular elemental objective, is performed as follows. The linear expression specified in the objective statement is evaluated that gives the resultant linear form:
f = a1 x1 + a2 x2 + ... + an xn + a0,
where x1, x2, ..., xn are elemental variables, a1, a2, ..., an are numeric coefficients, a0 is the constant term. Then the linear form is used to construct the final elemental constraint in the standard form:
−inf < a1 x1 + a2 x2 + ... + an xn + a0 < +inf.
As a rule the model description contains only one objective statement that defines the objective function (1) used in the problem instance. However, it is allowed to declare arbitrary number of objectives, in which case the actual objective function is the first objective encountered in the model description. Other objectives are also included in the problem instance, but they do not affect the objective function.
solve ; |
The solve statement causes solving the model, i.e. computing numeric values of all model variables. This allows using variables in statements below the solve statement in the same way as if they were numeric parameters.
Note that variable, constraint, and objective statements cannot be used below the solve statement, i.e. all principal components of the model must be described above the solve statement.
check domain : expression ; |
Examples
check: x + y <= 1 and x >= 0 and y >= 0; check sum{i in ORIG} supply[i] = sum{j in DEST} demand[j]; check{i in I, j in 1..10}: S[i,j] in U[i] union V[j];
The check statement allows checking the resultant value of an logical expression specified in the statement. If the value is false, the model translator reports an error.
If the subscript domain is not specified, the check is performed only once. Specifying the subscript domain allows performing multiple checks for every n-tuple in the domain set. In the latter case the logical expression may include dummy indices introduced in the corresponding indexing expression.
display domain : item , ... , item ; |
Examples
display: 'x =', x, 'y =', y, 'z =', z; display sqrt(x ** 2 + y ** 2 + z ** 2); display{i in I, j in J}: i, j, a[i,j], b[i,j];
The display statement evaluates all items specified in the statement and writes their values to the terminal in plain text format.
If the subscript domain is not specified, items are evaluated and then displayed only once. Specifying the subscript domain causes evaluating and displaying items for every n-tuple in the domain set. In the latter case items may include dummy indices introduced in the corresponding indexing expression.
Item to be displayed can be a model object (set, parameter, variable, constraint, objective) or an expression.
If the item is a computable object (i.e. a set or parameter provided with the assign attribute), the object is evaluated over the entire domain and then its content (i.e. the content of the object array) is displayed. Otherwise, if the item is not a computable object, only its current content (i.e. the members actually generated during the model evaluation) is displayed. Note that if the display statement is used above the solve statement and the item is a variable, its displayed “value” means “elemental variable”, not a numeric value, which the variable could have in some solution obtained by the solver. To display a numeric value of a variable the display statement should be used below the solve statement. Analogously, if the item is a constraint or objective, its “value” means “elemental constraint” or “elemental objective”, not a numeric value.
If the item is an expression, the expression is evaluated and its resultant value is displayed.
printf domain : format ,
expression , ... , expression
;
printf domain : format , expression , ... , expression > filename ; printf domain : format , expression , ... , expression >> filename ; |
>
means creating a new empty file while the flag >>
means appending the output to an existing file. If no file name is
specified, the output is written to the terminal.
Examples
printf 'Hello, world!\n'; printf: "x = %.3f; y = %.3f; z = %.3f\n", x, y, z > "result.txt"; printf{i in I, j in J}: "flow from %s to %s is %d\n", i, j, x[i,j]; printf{i in I} 'total flow from %s is %g\n', i, sum{j in J} x[i,j]; printf{k in K} "x[%s] = " & (if x[k] < 0 then "?" else "%g"), k, x[k];
The printf statement is similar to the display statement, however, it allows formatting the data to be written.
If the subscript domain is not specified, the printf statement is executed only once. Specifying the subscript domain causes executing the printf statement for every n-tuple in the domain set. In the latter case format and expressions may include dummy indices introduced in the corresponding indexing expression.
The format control string is a value of the symbolic expression
format specified in the printf statement. It is composed of zero
or more directives as follows: ordinary characters (not %
), which
are copied unchanged to the output stream, and conversion
specifications, each of which causes evaluating corresponding
expression specified in the printf statement, formatting it, and
writing the resultant value to the output stream.
Conversion specifications which may be used in the format control
string are the following: d
, i
, f
, F
,
e
, E
, g
, G
, and s
. These
specifications have the same syntax and semantics as in the C
programming language.
for domain : statement
for domain : { statement ... statement } |
Examples
for {(i,j) in E: i != j} { printf "flow from %s to %s is %g\n", i, j, x[i,j]; check x[i,j] >= 0; } for {i in 1..n} { for {j in 1..n} printf " %s", if x[i,j] then "Q" else "."; printf("\n"); } for {1..72} printf("*");
The for statement causes executing a statement or a sequence of statements specified as part of the for statement for every n-tuple in the domain set. Thus, statements within the for statement may refer to dummy indices introduced in the corresponding indexing expression.
Model data include elemental sets, which are “values” of model sets, and numeric and symbolic values of model parameters.
In MathProg there are two different ways to saturate model sets and parameters with data. One way is simply providing necessary data using the assign attribute. However, in many cases it is more practical to separate the model itself and particular data needed for the model. For the latter reason in MathProg there is other way, when the model description is divided into two parts: model section and data section.
Model section is a main part of the model description that contains declarations of all model objects and is common for all problems based on that model.
Data section is an optional part of the model description that contains model data specific for a particular problem.
In MathProg model and data sections can be placed either in one text file or in two separate text files.
If both model and data sections are placed in one file, the file is composed as follows:
+------------+ | statement | | statement | | . . . | | statement | | data; | | data block | | data block | | . . . | | data block | | end; | +------------+
If the model and data sections are placed in two separate files, the files are composed as follows:
+------------+ +------------+ | statement | | data; | | statement | | data block | | . . . | | data block | | statement | | . . . | | end; | | data block | | | | end; | +------------+ +------------+ Model file Data file
data
is optional and may be omitted along with the semicolon
that follows it.
The data section is a sequence of data blocks in various formats, which are discussed in following subsections. The order, in which data blocks follow in the data section, may be arbitrary, not necessarily the same as in which the corresponding model objects follow in the model section.
The rules of coding the data section are commonly the same as the rules
of coding the model description (for details see Section “Coding model
description”), i.e. data blocks are composed from basic lexical units
such as symbolic names, numeric and string literals, keywords,
delimiters, and comments. However, for the sake of convenience and
improving readability there is one deviation from the common rule: if
a string literal consists of only alphanumeric characters (including the
underscore character), the signs +
and -
, and/or the
decimal point, it may be coded without bordering (single or
double) quotes.
All numeric and symbolic material provided in the data section is coded
in the form of numbers and symbols, i.e. unlike the model section
no expressions are allowed in the data section. Nevertheless the signs
+
and -
can precede numeric literals to allow coding
signed numeric quantities, in which case there must be no white-space
characters between the sign and following numeric literal (if there is
at least one white-space, the sign and following numeric literal are
recognized as two different lexical units).
set name , record ,
... , record ;
set name [ symbol , ... , symbol ] , record , ... , record ; |
Data records:
Examples
set month := Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun; set month "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun"; set A[3,Mar] := (1,2) (2,3) (4,2) (3,1) (2,2) (4,4) (3,4); set A[3,'Mar'] := 1 2 2 3 4 2 3 1 2 2 4 4 2 4; set A[3,'Mar'] : 1 2 3 4 := 1 - + - - 2 - + + - 3 + - - + 4 - + - + ; set B := (1,2,3) (1,3,2) (2,3,1) (2,1,3) (1,2,2) (1,1,1) (2,1,1); set B := (*,*,*) 1 2 3, 1 3 2, 2 3 1, 2 1 3, 1 2 2, 1 1 1, 2 1 1; set B := (1,*,2) 3 2 (2,*,1) 3 1 (1,2,3) (2,1,3) (1,1,1); set B := (1,*,*) : 1 2 3 := 1 + - - 2 - + + 3 - + - (2,*,*) : 1 2 3 := 1 + - + 2 - - - 3 + - - ;
(In these examples the set month
is a simple set of singles,
A
is a 2-dimensional array of doubles, and B
is a simple
set of triples. Data blocks for the same set are equivalent in the sense
that they specify the same data in different formats.)
The set data block is used to specify a complete elemental set, which is assigned to a set (if it is a simple set) or one of its members (if the set is an array of sets).5
Data blocks can be specified only for non-computable sets, i.e. sets which have no assign attribute in the corresponding set statements.
If the set is a simple set, only its symbolic name should be given in the header of the data block. Otherwise, if the set is a n-dimensional array, its symbolic name should be provided with a complete list of subscripts separated by commae and enclosed in square brackets to specify a particular member of the set array. The number of subscripts must be the same as the dimension of the set array, where each subscript must be a number or symbol.
The elemental set defined in the set data block is coded as a sequence of data records described below.6
The assign (:=
) data record is a non-signficant element. It may
be used for improving readability of data blocks.
The slice data record is a control record which specifies a slice of the elemental set defined in the data block. It has the following syntactic form:
( s1 , s2 , ... , sn )
where s1, s2, ..., sn are components of the slice.
Each component of the slice can be a number or symbol or the asterisk (*). The number of components in the slice must be the same as the dimension of n-tuples in the elemental set to be defined. For instance, if the elemental set contains 4-tuples (quadruples), the slice must have four components. The number of asterisks in the slice is called slice dimension.
The effect of using slices is the following. If a m-dimensional slice (i.e. a slice which has m asterisks) is specified in the data block, all subsequent data records must specifiy tuples of the dimension m. Whenever a m-tuple is encountered, each asterisk in the slice is replaced by corresponding components of the m-tuple that gives the resultant n-tuple, which is included in the elemental set to be defined. For example, if the slice (a,*,1,2,*) is in effect, and 2-tuple (3,b) is encountered in a subsequent data record, the resultant 5-tuple included in the elemental set is (a,3,1,2,b).
The slice that has no asterisks itself defines a complete n-tuple, which is included in the elemental set.
Being once specified the slice effects until either a new slice or the end of data block has been encountered. Note that if there is no slice specified in the data block, a dummy one, components of which are all asterisks, is assumed.
The simple data record defines one n-tuple in simple format and has the following syntactic form:
t1 , t2 , ... , tn
where t1, t2, ..., tn are components of the n-tuple. Each component can be a number or symbol. Commae between components are optional and may be omitted.
The matrix data record defines several 2-tuples (doubles) in matrix format and has the following syntactic form:
: c1 c2 ... cn := r1 a11 a12 ... a1n r2 a21 a22 ... a2n ... ... ... ... ... rm am1 am2 ... amn
where r1, r2, ..., rm are numbers and/or symbols which
correspond to rows of the matrix, c1, c2, ..., cn are
numbers and/or symbols which correspond to columns of the matrix,
a11, a12, ..., amn are the matrix elements, which can be
either the sign +
or the sign -
. (In this data record the
delimiter :
preceding the column list and the delimiter :=
following the column list cannot be omitted.)
Each element aij of the matrix data block (where
1 <= i <= m,
1 <= j <= n) corresponds to 2-tuple
(ri, cj). If aij is the plus sign (+
), the
corresponding 2-tuple (or a longer n-tuple, if a slice is used)
is included in the elemental set. Otherwise, if aij is the minus
sign (-
) sign, the corresponding 2-tuple is not included in the
elemental set.
Since the matrix data record defines 2-tuples, either the elemental set must consist of 2-tuples or the slice currently used must be 2-dimensional.
The transposed matrix data record has the following syntactic form:
(tr) : c1 c2 ... cn := r1 a11 a12 ... a1n r2 a21 a22 ... a2n ... ... ... ... ... rm am1 am2 ... amn
(In this case the delimiter :
following the keyword (tr)
is optional and may be omitted.)
This data record is completely analogous to the matrix data record (see above) with the only exception that each element aij of the matrix corresponds to 2-tuple (cj, ri).
Being once specified the (tr)
indicator effects on all
subsequent data records until either a slice or the end of data block
has been encountered.
param name , record , ...
, record ;
param name default value , record , ... , record ; param : tabbing-data ; param default value : tabbing-data ; |
Data records:
Examples
param T := 4; param month := 1 Jan 2 Feb 3 Mar 4 Apr 5 May; param month := [1] 'Jan', [2] 'Feb', [3] 'Mar', [4] 'Apr', [5] 'May'; param init_stock := iron 7.32 nickel 35.8; param init_stock [*] iron 7.32, nickel 35.8; param cost [iron] .025 [nickel] .03; param value := iron -.1, nickel .02; param : init_stock cost value := iron 7.32 .025 -.1 nickel 35.8 .03 .02 ; param : raw : init stock cost value := iron 7.32 .025 -.1 nickel 35.8 .03 .02 ; param demand default 0 (tr) : FRA DET LAN WIN STL FRE LAF := bands 300 . 100 75 . 225 250 coils 500 750 400 250 . 850 500 plate 100 . . 50 200 . 250 ; param trans_cost := [*,*,bands]: FRA DET LAN WIN STL FRE LAF := GARY 30 10 8 10 11 71 6 CLEV 22 7 10 7 21 82 13 PITT 19 11 12 10 25 83 15 [*,*,coils]: FRA DET LAN WIN STL FRE LAF := GARY 39 14 11 14 16 82 8 CLEV 27 9 12 9 26 95 17 PITT 24 14 17 13 28 99 20 [*,*,plate]: FRA DET LAN WIN STL FRE LAF := GARY 41 15 12 16 17 86 8 CLEV 29 9 13 9 28 99 18 PITT 26 14 17 13 31 104 20 ;
The parameter data block is used to specify complete data for a parameter (or parameters, if data are specified in the tabbing format) whose name is given in the block.
Data blocks can be specified only for the parameters, which are non-computable, i.e. which have no assign attribute in the corresponding parameter statements.
Data defined in the parameter data block are coded as a sequence of
data records described below. Additionally the data block can be
provided with the optional default
attribute, which specifies
a default numeric or symbolic value of the parameter (parameters). This
default value is assigned to the parameter or its members, if
no appropriate value is defined in the parameter data block. The
default
attribute cannot be used, if it is already specified in
the corresponding parameter statement(s).
The assign (:=
) data record is a non-signficant element. It may
be used for improving readability of data blocks.
The slice data record is a control record which specifies a slice of the parameter array. It has the following syntactic form:
[ s1 , s2 , ... , sn ]
where s1, s2, ..., sn are components of the slice.
Each component of the slice can be a number or symbol or the asterisk
(|*|
). The number of components in the slice must be the same as
the dimension of the parameter. For instance, if the parameter is a
4-dimensional array, the slice must have four components. The number of
asterisks in the slice is called slice dimension.
The effect of using slices is the following. If a m-dimensional slice (i.e. a slice which has m asterisks) is specified in the data block, all subsequent data records must specify subscripts of the parameter members as if the parameter were m-dimensional, not n-dimensional.
Whenever m subscripts are encountered, each asterisk in the slice is replaced by corresponding subscript that gives n subscripts, which define the actual parameter member. For example, if the slice [a,*,1,2,*] is in effect, and the subscripts 3 and b are encountered in a subsequent data record, the complete subscript list used to choose a parameter member is [a,3,1,2,b].
It is allowed to specify a slice that has no asterisks. Such slice itself defines a complete subscript list, in which case the next data record can define only a single value of the corresponding parameter member.
Being once specified the slice effects until either a new slice or the end of data block has been encountered. Note that if there is no slice specified in the data block, a dummy one, components of which are all asterisks, is assumed.
The plain data record defines the subscript list and a single value in plain format. This record has the following syntactic form:
t1 , t2 , ... , tn , v
where t1, t2, ..., tn are subscripts, v is a value. Each subscript as well as the value can be a number or symbol. Commae following subscripts are optional and may be omitted.
In case of 0-dimensional parameter or slice the plain data record have no subscripts and consists of a single value only.
The tabular data record defines several values, where each value is provided with two subscripts. This record has the following syntactic form:
: c1 c2 ... cn := r1 a11 a12 ... a1n r2 a21 a22 ... a2n ... ... ... ... ... rm am1 am2 ... amn
where r1, r2, ..., rm are numbers and/or symbols which
correspond to rows of the table, c1, c2, ..., cn are
numbers and/or symbols which correspond to columns of the table,
a11, a12, ..., amn are the table elements. Each element
can be a number or symbol or the single decimal point. (In this data
record the delimiter :
preceding the column list and the
delimiter :=
following the column list cannot be omitted.)
Each element aij of the tabular data block (1 <= i <= m, 1 <= j <= n) defines two subscripts, where the first subscript is ri, and the second one is cj. These subscripts are used in conjunction with the current slice to form the complete subscript list which identifies a particular member of the parameter array. If aij is a number or symbol, this value is assigned to the parameter member. However, if aij is the single decimal point, the member is assigned a default value specified either in the parameter data block or in the parameter statement, or, if no default value is specified, the member remains undefined.
Since the tabular data record provides two subscripts for each value, either the parameter or the slice currently used must be 2-dimensional.
The transposed tabular data record has the following syntactic form:
(tr) : c1 c2 ... cn := r1 a11 a12 ... a1n r2 a21 a22 ... a2n ... ... ... ... ... rm am1 am2 ... amn
(In this case the delimiter :
following the keyword (tr)
is optional and may be omitted.)
This data record is completely analogous to the tabular data record (see above) with the only exception that the first subscript defined by the element aij is cj while the second one is ri.
Being once specified the (tr)
indicator effects on all subsequent
data records until either a slice or the end of data block has been
encountered.
The parameter data block in the tabbing format has the following syntactic form:
param default value : s : p1 , p2 , ..., pk := t11 , t12 , ... , t1n , a11 , a12 , ..., a1k t21 , t22 , ... , t2n , a21 , a22 , ..., a2k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tm1 , tm2 , ... , tmn , am1 , am2 , ..., amk ;
The data block in the tabbing format shown above is exactly equivalent to the following data blocks:
set s := (t11,...,t1n) (t21,...,t2n) ... (tm1,...,tmn) param pj default value := [t11,...,t1n] a1j [t21,...,t2n] a2j ... [tm1,...,tmn] amj;
where j = 1, 2, ..., k.
To obtain the current calendar time there is the function gmtime. It has no arguments and returns the number of seconds elapsed since 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). For example:
param utc := gmtime();
GNU MathProg has no functions to convert UTC time returned by the function gmtime to local calendar times. Thus, if you need to determine the current local calendar time, you have to add to the UTC time returned the time offset from UTC expressed in seconds. For example, the time in Berlin during the winter is one hour ahead of UTC that corresponds to the time offset +1 hour = +3600 secs, so the current winter calendar time in Berlin may be determined as follows:
param now := gmtime() + 3600;
Similarly, the summer time in Chicago (Central Daylight Time) is five hours behind UTC, so the corresponding current local calendar time may be determined as follows:
param now := gmtime() - 5 * 3600;
Note that the value returned by gmtime is volatile, i.e. being called several times this function may return different values.
The function str2time(s, f) converts a character string (timestamp) specified by its first argument s, which must be a symbolic expression, to the calendar time suitable for arithmetic calculations. The conversion is controlled by the specified format string f (the second argument), which also must be a symbolic expression.
The result of conversion returned by str2time has the same meaning as the value returned by the function gmtime (See Obtaining current calendar time). Note that str2time does not correct the calendar time returned for the local timezone, i.e. being applied to 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970 it always returns 0.
For example, the model statements:
param s, symbolic, := "07/14/98 13:47"; param t := str2time(s, "%m/%d/%y %H:%M"); display t;
produce the following printout:
t = 900424020
where the calendar time printed corresponds to 13:47:00 on July 14, 1998.
The format string passed to the function str2time consists of conversion specifiers and ordinary characters. Each conversion specifier begins with a `%' character followed by a letter.
The following conversion specifiers may be used in the format string:
All other (ordinary) characters in the format string must have a matching character in the input string to be converted. Exceptions are spaces in the input string which can match zero or more space characters in the format string.
If some date and/or time component(s) are missing in the format and, therefore, in the input string, the function str2time uses their default values corresponding to 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, that is, the default value of the year is 1970, the default value of the month is January, etc.
The function str2time is applicable to all calendar times in the range 00:00:00 on January 1, 0001 to 23:59:59 on December 31, 4000 of the Gregorian calendar.
The function time2str(t, f) converts the calendar time specified by its first argument t, which must be a numeric expression, to a character string (symbolic value). The conversion is controlled by the specified format string f (the second argument), which must be a symbolic expression.
The calendar time passed to time2str has the same meaning as the value returned by the function gmtime (See Obtaining current calendar time). Note that time2str does not correct the specified calendar time for the local timezone, i.e. the calendar time 0 always corresponds to 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970.
For example, the model statements:
param s, symbolic, := time2str(gmtime(), "%FT%TZ"); display s;
may produce the following printout:
s = '2008-12-04T00:23:45Z'
which is a timestamp in the ISO format.
The format string passed to the function time2str consists of conversion specifiers and ordinary characters. Each conversion specifier begins with a `%' character followed by a letter.
The following conversion specifiers may be used in the format string:
All other (ordinary) characters in the format string are simply copied to the resultant string.
The first argument (calendar time) passed to the function time2str must be in the range from –62135596800 to +64092211199 that corresponds to the period from 00:00:00 on January 1, 0001 to 23:59:59 on December 31, 4000 of the Gregorian calendar.
glpsol
The GLPK package7 includes the program glpsol, which is a stand-alone LP/MIP solver. This program can be launched from the command line or from the shell to solve models written in the GNU MathProg modeling language.
In order to tell the solver that the input file contains a model description, you should specify the option --model in the command line. For example:
glpsol --model foo.mod
Sometimes it is necessary to use the data section placed in a separate file, in which case you may use the following command:
glpsol --model foo.mod --data foo.dat
Note that if the model file also contains the data section, that section is ignored.
If the model description contains some display and/or print statements, by default the output sends to the terminal. In order to redirect the output to a file you may use the following command:
glpsol --model foo.mod --display foo.out
If you need to look at the problem which has been generated by the model translator, you may use the option --wcpxlp as follows:
glpsol --model foo.mod --wcpxlp foo.lp
in which case the problem data is written to file foo.lp in CPLEX LP format suitable for visual analysis.
Sometimes it is needed merely to check the model description not solving the generated problem. In this case you may specify the option --check, for example:
glpsol --check --model foo.mod --wcpxlp foo.lp
In order to write a numeric solution obtained by the solver you may use the following command:
glpsol --model foo.mod --output foo.sol
in which case the solution is written to the file foo.sol in plain text format.
Complete list of the glpsol options can be found in the reference manual included in the GLPK distribution.
Below here is a complete example of the model description written in the GNU MathProg modeling language.
# A TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM # # This problem finds a least cost shipping schedule that meets # requirements at markets and supplies at factories. # # References: # Dantzig G B, "Linear Programming and Extensions." # Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1963, # Chapter 3-3. set I; /* canning plants */ set J; /* markets */ param a{i in I}; /* capacity of plant i in cases */ param b{j in J}; /* demand at market j in cases */ param d{i in I, j in J}; /* distance in thousands of miles */ param f; /* freight in dollars per case per thousand miles */ param c{i in I, j in J} := f * d[i,j] / 1000; /* transport cost in thousands of dollars per case */ var x{i in I, j in J} >= 0; /* shipment quantities in cases */ minimize cost: sum{i in I, j in J} c[i,j] * x[i,j]; /* total transportation costs in thousands of dollars */ s.t. supply{i in I}: sum{j in J} x[i,j] <= a[i]; /* observe supply limit at plant i */ s.t. demand{j in J}: sum{i in I} x[i,j] >= b[j]; /* satisfy demand at market j */ data; set I := Seattle San-Diego; set J := New-York Chicago Topeka; param a := Seattle 350 San-Diego 600; param b := New-York 325 Chicago 300 Topeka 275; param d : New-York Chicago Topeka := Seattle 2.5 1.7 1.8 San-Diego 2.5 1.8 1.4 ; param f := 90; end;
Below here is the result of the translation of the example model produced by the solver glpsol and written in the CPLEX LP format with the option --wcpxlp.
\* Problem: transp *\ Minimize cost: + 0.225 x(Seattle,New~York) + 0.153 x(Seattle,Chicago) + 0.162 x(Seattle,Topeka) + 0.225 x(San~Diego,New~York) + 0.162 x(San~Diego,Chicago) + 0.126 x(San~Diego,Topeka) Subject To supply(Seattle): + x(Seattle,New~York) + x(Seattle,Chicago) + x(Seattle,Topeka) <= 350 supply(San~Diego): + x(San~Diego,New~York) + x(San~Diego,Chicago) + x(San~Diego,Topeka) <= 600 demand(New~York): + x(Seattle,New~York) + x(San~Diego,New~York) >= 325 demand(Chicago): + x(Seattle,Chicago) + x(San~Diego,Chicago) >= 300 demand(Topeka): + x(Seattle,Topeka) + x(San~Diego,Topeka) >= 275 End
Below here is the optimal solution of the generated LP problem found by the solver glpsol and written in plain text format with the option --output.
Problem: transp Rows: 6 Columns: 6 Non-zeros: 18 Status: OPTIMAL Objective: cost = 153.675 (MINimum) No. Row name St Activity Lower bound Upper bound Marginal ------ ------------ -- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- 1 cost B 153.675 2 supply[Seattle] B 300 350 3 supply[San-Diego] NU 600 600 < eps 4 demand[New-York] NL 325 325 0.225 5 demand[Chicago] NL 300 300 0.153 6 demand[Topeka] NL 275 275 0.126 No. Column name St Activity Lower bound Upper bound Marginal ------ ------------ -- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- 1 x[Seattle,New-York] B 0 0 2 x[Seattle,Chicago] B 300 0 3 x[Seattle,Topeka] NL 0 0 0.036 4 x[San-Diego,New-York] B 325 0 5 x[San-Diego,Chicago] NL 0 0 0.009 6 x[San-Diego,Topeka] B 275 0 End of output
The author would like to thank the following people, who kindly read, commented, and corrected the draft of this manual:
Juan Carlos Borras <borras@cs.helsinki.fi>
Harley Mackenzie <hjm@bigpond.com>
Robbie Morrison <robbie@actrix.co.nz>
[1] The GNU MathProg language is a subset of the AMPL language. Its GLPK implementation is mainly based on the paper: Robert Fourer, David M. Gay, and Brian W. Kernighan, “A Modeling Language for Mathematical Programming.” Management Science 36 (1990) pp. 519-54.
[2] For details See Obtaining current calendar time.
[3] For details See Converting character string to calendar time.
[4] For details see See Converting calendar time to character string.
[5] There is another way to specify data for a simple set along with data for parameters. This feature is discussed in the next section.
[6] Data record is simply a technical term. It does not mean that data records have any special formatting.
[7] <http://www.gnu.org/software/glpk/
>