4.

5 Tie Breaking in the Simplex Method

Case 1：Tie for the Entering Basic Variable
- Step 1 of each iteration chooses the nonbasic variable having the negative

coefficient with the largest absolute value in the Eq. (0) as the entering

basic variable.
EX. If Z = 3X1 + 3X2 => Eq.(0) became Z - 3X1 － 3X2 ＝ 0
Q：How should this tie be broken?
A ： Te answer is that the selection between these contenders may be made

arbitrarily.

 I fX i1sc h o o as set hn ien i t bi aal s vi ca r i a, 3bi tl e r t i o n s .

EX. 
 I fX i2sc h o o as set hn ien i t bi aal s vi ca r i a, 2bi tl e r t i o n s .
are required to reach optimal solution ( 2,6 ) , and Z = 24 .
Case 2：Tie for the Leaving Basic Variable — Degeneracy .
- Now suppose that two or more basic variables tie for being the leaving

basic variable in step2 of an iteration.

Q：Does it matter which one is chosen?
A：Theoretically it does, and in a very critical way.(There possible events can

occur.)
- The basic variable with a value of zero are called degenerate.
- In practice, just break this kind of tie arbitrarily and proceed without

worrying about degenerate basic variables that result .

 Tie Breaking (Continued)
Case 3：No Leaving Basic Variable — unbounded Z
Step2：No variable qualifies to be the leaving basic variable.
- In tabular form, this means that every coefficient in the pivot column
(excluding row c) is either negative or zero.
EX ： Max Z = 3X + 5X2

 Z - 3 X1 - 5 X2 = 0
S.T.： X1 ≤ 4 => 
 X1 + X 3 = 4
and X1 ≥ 0 and X2 ≥0
Table：4.9
Basic Coefficient of： Right
Variable Eq. Z X1 X2 X3 Side Ratio
Z (0) 1 -3 -5 0 0
X3 (1) 0 1 0 1 4 None
- Because the minimum ratio test uses only coefficients that are greater than
zero, there is no ratio to provide a leaving basic variable.
- Interpretation of Table 4.9：
The coefficients do not prevent the value of the objective function Z
increasing indefinitely, so the simplex method would stop with the
message that Z is unbounded.
Case 4：Multiple optimal solutions.
EX：If Max： Z = 3X1+2X2
- Every point on the line segment between ( 2,6 ) and ( 4,3 ) is optimal. Thus,
all optimal solution are a weighted average of these two optimal CPF
solution. ( X1, X2 ) = W1‧( 2,6 ) + W2‧( 4,3 ),
Where the weight W1 and W2 are numbers that satisfy the relationship.
W1+W2=1 and W1 ≥0 , W2 ≥0
EX ： W1=1/3 and W2=2/3 give (X1,X2)=1/3(2,6)+2/3(4,3)=(10/3,4) —as one
optimal solution.