An implicit space covering method with applications to fixed point and global optimization problems (Q1118532)

We shall be concerned with the following problem: (P) Let there be given in \(R^ n\) a convex set C with nonempty interior and an (arbitrary) set D. Find an element of the intersection \(C\cap D.\) Unless the set D is also convex, this problem is computationally very difficult. In the most general case, it is essentially intractable. As far as deterministic methods are concerned, there seems to be no other way for solving this problem than by an exhaustive search throughout the set C. In the sequel, however, we shall show that under suitable assumptions, it is possible, by systematically exploiting the convexity of the set C, to construct an implicit space covering method which is guaranteed to produce a solution after finitely many steps when the problem is solvable.