A deterministic global optimization method is developed for a class of discontinuous functions. McCormick’s method to obtain relaxations of nonconvex functions is extended to discontinuous factorable functions by representing a discontinuity with a step function. The properties of the...

We consider the optimal operation of a hydroelectric plant supplemented by a set of thermal plants. The initial model gives rise to a discrete minimization problem with a convex cost function, submitted to both concave and convex restrictions. The geometry of the water reservoir is taken into...

For univariate functions, we compute optimal breakpoint systems subject to the condition that the piecewise linear approximation (or, under- and overestimator) never deviates more than a given δ-tolerance from the original function, over a given finite interval. The linear approximators, under-...

Each year in the postsecondary education industry, schools offer admission to nearly 3 million new students and scholarships totaling nearly $100 billion. This is a large, understudied targeted marketing and price discrimination problem. This problem falls into a broader class of configuration...