Location Problems

This monograph analyzes various classes of Boolean quadratic problems with special ordered set constraints (BQPSs) in order to develop a practical approach to solving these problems. The BQPS provides a framework of mathematical abstraction for a variety of scheduling, design and assignment problems with a combination of linear assignment and quadratic interaction cost, not necessarily nonnegative, that arise in a wide variety of real-life contexts. We start with a detailed discussion of quadratic assignment problems which appear to have their roots in three separate spheres of scientific interest — in spatial economics which has a long history of its own, see e.g. Weber [1909], and in industrial engineering and computer science, both of which are comparatively young disciplines.