Programme leader: A. Schrijver
The programme aims at designing and analysing mathematical methods and algorithms for optimization problems. In particular, the focus is on topological and geometrical methods (polyhedral, interior-point, and homotopy methods) for combinatorial, nonlinear, and integer optimization problems.
The problems investigated originate from operations research, computer science, and technology. In solving such problems. one makes use of methods from discrete mathematics (graph theory), geometry (convexity and polyhedra), geometry of numbers, combinatorial group theory, topology, and linear programming. In the cooperation, the University of Amsterdam contributes by graph theory, CWI by combinatorial optimization and algorithmics, and Delft university of Technology by by interior-point methods for linear and integer programming.