5.210. maximum
| DESCRIPTION | LINKS | GRAPH | AUTOMATON |
- Origin
CHIP
- Constraint
- Synonym
.
- Arguments
- Restrictions
- Purpose
is the maximum value of the collection of domain variables .
- Example
-
The constraint holds since its first argument is fixed to the maximum value of the collection .
- Symmetries
Items of are permutable.
All occurrences of two distinct values of can be swapped.
One and the same constant can be added to as well as to the attribute of all items of .
- Usage
In some project scheduling problems one has to introduce dummy activities that correspond for instance to the completion time of a given set of activities. In this context one can use the constraint to get the maximum completion time of a set of tasks.
- Remark
Note that is a constraint and not just a function that computes the maximum value of a collection of variables: potential values of influence the variables of , and reciprocally potential values that can be assigned to variables of influence .
The constraint is called in JaCoP (http://www.jacop.eu/).
- Algorithm
- Systems
max in Choco, max in Gecode, max in JaCoP, maximum in SICStus.
- See also
common keyword: Β (order constraint).
generalisation: Β ( replaced by ).
implies: , .
soft variant: Β (open constraint).
specialisation: Β (maximum or order replaced by absolute maximum).
- Keywords
characteristic of a constraint: maximum, automaton, automaton without counters, reified automaton constraint.
constraint network structure: centered cyclic(1) constraint network(1).
- Arc input(s)
- Arc generator
-
- Arc arity
- Arc constraint(s)
- Graph property(ies)
-
- Graph model
We use a similar definition that the one that was utilised for the constraint. Within the arc constraint, we replace the comparison operator by .
PartsΒ (A) andΒ (B) of FigureΒ 5.210.1 respectively show the initial and final graph associated with the Example slot. Since we use the graph property, the vertex of rank 0 (without considering the loops) of the final graph is outlined with a thick circle.
Figure 5.210.1. Initial and final graph of the constraint


(a) (b)
- Automaton
FigureΒ 5.210.2 depicts the automaton associated with the constraint. Let be the variable of the collection. To each pair corresponds a signature variable as well as the following signature constraint: .
Figure 5.210.2. Automaton of the constraint

Figure 5.210.3. Hypergraph of the reformulation corresponding to the automaton of the constraint
