The iterations’ number estimation for strongly polynomial linear programming algorithms

A direct algorithm for solving a linear programming problem (LP), given in canonical form, is considered. The algorithm consists of two successive stages, in which the following LP problems are solved by a direct method: a non-degenerate auxiliary problem at the first stage and some problem equivalent to the original one at the second. The construction of the auxiliary problem is based on a multiplicative version of the Gaussian exclusion method, in the very structure of which there are possibilities: identification of incompatibility and linear dependence of constraints; identification of variables whose optimal values are obviously zero; the actual exclusion of direct variables and the reduction of the dimension of the space in which the solution of the original problem is determined. In the process of actual exclusion of variables, the algorithm generates a sequence of multipliers, the main rows of which form a matrix of constraints of the auxiliary problem, and the possibility of minimizing the filling of the main rows of multipliers is inherent in the very structure of direct methods. At the same time, there is no need to transfer information (basis, plan and optimal value of the objective function) to the second stage of the algorithm and apply one of the ways to eliminate looping to guarantee final convergence.
Two variants of the algorithm for solving the auxiliary problem in conjugate canonical form are presented. The first one is based on its solution by a direct algorithm in terms of the simplex method, and the second one is based on solving a problem dual to it by the simplex method. It is shown that both variants of the algorithm for the same initial data (inputs) generate the same sequence of points: the basic solution and the current dual solution of the vector of row estimates. Hence, it is concluded that the direct algorithm is an algorithm of the simplex method type. It is also shown that the comparison of numerical schemes leads to the conclusion that the direct algorithm allows to reduce, according to the cubic law, the number of arithmetic operations necessary to solve the auxiliary problem, compared with the simplex method. An estimate of the number of iterations is given.