A deterministic global optimization method is developed for a class of discontinuous functions. McCormick’s method to obtain relaxations of nonconvex functions is extended to discontinuous factorable functions by representing a discontinuity with a step function. The properties of the...

In continuous branch-and-bound algorithms, a very large number of boxes near global minima may be visited prior to termination. This so-called cluster problem (J Glob Optim 5(3):253–265, <CitationRef CitationID="CR4">1994</CitationRef>) is revisited and a new analysis is presented. Previous results are confirmed, which state that at...</citationref>