Representing Piecewise Linear Functions by Functions with Small Arity

MaRDI QIDQ6438120zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Christoph Koutschan, Bernhard A. Moser, Anton Ponomarchuk, Josef Schicho

Publication date 26 May 2023

Abstract: A piecewise linear function can be described in different forms: as an arbitrarily nested expression of $min$- and $max$-functions, as a difference of two convex piecewise linear functions, or as a linear combination of maxima of affine-linear functions. In this paper, we provide two main results: first, we show that for every piecewise linear function there exists a linear combination of $max$-functions with at most $n+1$ arguments, and give an algorithm for its computation. Moreover, these arguments are contained in the finite set of affine-linear functions that coincide with the given function in some open set. Second, we prove that the piecewise linear function $max(0,x_1,ldots,x_n)$ cannot be represented as a linear combination of maxima of less than $n+1$ affine-linear arguments. This was conjectured by Wang and Sun in 2005 in a paper on representations of piecewise linear functions as linear combination of maxima.

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