Dual of a polyhedral cone

convex-analysisconvex-geometrydual-conegeometrypolyhedra

A general polyhedral cone $\mathcal{P} \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ can be represented as either $\mathcal{P} = \{x \in \mathbb{R}^n : Ax \geq 0 \}$ or $\mathcal{P} = \{V x : x \in \mathbb{R}_+^k , V \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times k} \}$.

I am trying to do show the dual of $\mathcal{P}$, $\mathcal{P}^*$, is a polyhedral set.

I start by writing
$\mathcal{P}^* = \{ y \in \mathbb{R}^n : y^T V x \geq 0$ $\forall x \in \mathbb{R}_+^k \}$. (1)

A polyhedral set is a set of the form $\{x \in \mathbb{R}^n : Ax \leq b \}$ (2).

Any ideas how to go from (1) to (2). I also know that an image of a polyhedral set under a linear map is also polyhedral.

PS: Similar questions like these have very advanced solution methods; I am looking for a much simpler way.

Best Answer

It's quite non-trivial to prove that your two definitions of polyhedral cone are equivalent. However, granted that, let $\mathcal{P}$ be a polyhedral cone satisfying your first definition, then $$ \begin{aligned} \mathcal{P}^* =& \{y\in\mathbb{R}^n:y^TVx\ge 0, \forall x \in \mathbb{R}_+^k\} \\ =& \{y\in\Bbb R^n:x^T\left(V^Ty\right)\ge0, \forall x\in \Bbb R_+^k\} \\ =& \{y\in\Bbb R^n:V^Ty\ge0\} \end{aligned} $$ so that $\mathcal{P}^*$ meets your first definition of polyhedral cone.

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