The Equivalence of Integer Programs to Constrained Recursive Systems

It has been established that integer programs with integral, recursive constraint matrices have integral extreme points for integral, nonnegative requirement vectors. In this paper, it is first shown that the assignment problem can be transformed to such a program, but with upper bounds on some variables. This equivalent program leads to additional results for solving the assignment problem. Algorithms are then delineated to transform matching, covering and travelling salesman problems to equivalent recursive programs of the aforementioned type, but with bounds on some variables. These results are extended to programs with special structure in their constraint matrices.