$title Rounding Problems in MIPs (BADMIP,SEQ=290) $onText Most mixed-integer solvers are based on linear programming engines which use floating-point arithmetic. Occasionally, this leads to wrong solutions. Many MIP solvers failed on this example. Neumaier and Shcherbina have suggested procedures to overcome this problem. It should be the MIP below has a feasible space which is one single point only and the relaxed solution is far away from the integer solution. Most MIP codes will fail when the upper bound of the variables are large. In practice, this can be overcome by using tight upper bounds on integer variables to get a good relaxation. Looking at the relaxed problem will give more insight. Neumaier, A, and Shcherbina, O, Safe Bounds in Linear and Mixed-Integer Programming. Mathematical Programming A to appear, (2003) Keywords: mixed integer linear programming, rounding errors, floating-point arithmetic, mixed integer rounding $offText Set i / 1*20 / ii(i) / 2*19 /; Scalar s / 6 /; Variable obj, x(i); Integer Variable x; Equation eq1, eq2(i), eq3, defobj; eq1.. (s+1)*x('1') - x('2') =g= s - 1; eq2(ii(i)).. -s*x(i-1) + (s+1)*x(i) - x(i+1) =g= power(-1,ord(i))*(s+1); eq3.. -s*x('18') - (3*s-1)*x('19') + 3*x('20') =g= -(5*s-7); defobj.. obj =e= - x('20'); Model m / all /; x.up(i)$(ord(i) <= 13) = 10; x.up(i)$(ord(i) >= 14) = 1e6; m.limCol = 0; m.limRow = 0; solve m using mip min obj; Parameter sol(i) 'single point solution' diff(i) 'difference with known solution'; sol(i) = round(2 - mod(ord(i),2)); if(m.modelStat = %modelStat.optimal% or m.modelStat = %modelStat.integerSolution%, diff(i) = round(x.l(i) - sol(i),6); if(card(diff) = 0, display 'the correct solution was found -- congratulations'; else display 'the solution is incorrect', sol; abort$1 'MIP found wrong solution'; ); else solve m using rmip min obj; abort$1 'MIP failed'; );