A Brief Tour of Logic and Optimization

Abstract

This paper is an informal survey of some of the deep connections between logic and optimization. It covers George Boole's probability logic, decision diagrams, logic and cutting planes, first order predicate logic, default and nonmonotonic logics, logic and duality, and finite-domain constraint programming. There is particular emphasis on practical optimization methods that stem from these connections, including decision-diagram based methods, logic-based Benders decomposition, and integration of CP and optimization technologies. The paper is a slight revision of an invited article for the INFORMS Optimization Society Newsletter in observance of the 2018 Khachian Award.