Inequality-sum : a global constraint capturing the objective function
This paper introduces a new method to prune the domains of the variables in constrained optimization problems where the objective function is defined by a sum , and where the integer variables are subject to difference constraints of the form . An important application area where such problems occur is deterministic scheduling with the mean flow time as optimality criteria. This new constraint is also more general than a sum constraint defined on a set of ordered variables. Classical approaches...