Masao Fukushima

Liqun Qi

The concept of "reformulation" has long been playing an important role in mathematical programming. A classical example is the penalization technique in constrained optimization that transforms the constraints into the objective function via a penalty function thereby reformulating a constrained problem as an equivalent or approximately equivalent unconstrained problem. More recent trends consist of the reformulation of various mathematical programming prob lems, including variational inequalities and complementarity problems, into equivalent systems of possibly nonsmooth, piecewise smooth or semismooth nonlinear equations, or equivalent unconstrained optimization problems that are usually differentiable, but in general not twice differentiable. Because of the recent advent of various tools in nonsmooth analysis, the reformulation approach has become increasingly profound and diversified. In view of growing interests in this active field, we planned to organize a cluster of sessions entitled "Reformulation - Nonsmooth, Piecewise Smooth, Semismooth and Smoothing Methods" in the 16th International Symposium on Mathematical Programming (ismp97) held at Lausanne EPFL, Switzerland on August 24-29, 1997. Responding to our invitation, thirty-eight people agreed to give a talk within the cluster, which enabled us to organize thirteen sessions in total. We think that it was one of the largest and most exciting clusters in the symposium. Thanks to the earnest support by the speakers and the chairpersons, the sessions attracted much attention of the participants and were filled with great enthusiasm of the audience.

Reformulation: Nonsmooth, Piecewise Smooth, Semismooth and Smoothing Methods

The concept of `reformulation' has long played an important role in mathematical programming. A classical example is the penalization technique in constrained optimization. More recent trends consist of reformulation of various mathematical programming problems, including variational inequalities and complementarity problems, into equivalent systems of possibly nonsmooth, piecewise smooth or semismooth nonlinear equations, or equivalent unconstrained optimization problems that are usually differentiable, but in general not twice differentiable. The book is a collection of peer-reviewed papers that cover such diverse areas as linear and nonlinear complementarity problems, variational inequality problems, nonsmooth equations and nonsmooth optimization problems, economic and network equilibrium problems, semidefinite programming problems, maximal monotone operator problems, and mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints. The reader will be convinced that the concept of `reformulation' provides extremely useful tools for advancing the study of mathematical programming from both theoretical and practical aspects. Audience: This book is intended for students and researchers in optimization, mathematical programming, and operations research.

I1-song Kim

Korea (North).

"This book consists of two parts. Part one is devoted to general remarks. It is written by Fukushima, who studies the socialist law. Part two, which is dedicated to article-by-article explanations, is written by Professor of the Republic Kim Gyu Song, a Korean scholar in Japan. This book carries translations of President Kim Il Sung's historic report, "Let us further strengthen the socialist system of our country," and the text of the Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The collected laws including the former consistution are appended to this book for reference."--Foreword page 3.

Masao Fukushima

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