The Duality Theorem, in short, states that the optimal value of the Primal (P) and Dual (D) Linear Programs are the same if the solution, of either, is a basic feasible solution.
My question is that it also follows that (from Linear and Nonlinear Programming – Luenberger, Ye), from a corollary to the Weak Duality Lemma
$$\mathbf{c}^{T}\mathbf{x}_{*} = \mathbf{y}_{*}^{T}\mathbf{b},$$
where $\mathbf{x}_{*}$ and $\mathbf{y}_{*}^{T}$ are the optimal feasible solutions, and so we can always find the optimal solutions to the (P) and (D) given that we just find one? Am I interpreting this correctly?
For example, suppose I have the following (P) problem:
$$\text{max}~~~3x_1 – x_2 – x_3 + x_4$$
$$\text{subject to}~~~x_1 + 2x_2 – 4x_3 +x_4 = 3$$
$$~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2x_1 – 2x_2 + 3x_3 + 3x_4 = 9$$
$$~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~x_1 – x_2 + 2x_3 – x_4 = 6$$
$$x_i \ge 0, \forall i$$
Solving (by two-phase simplex) gives an optimal value of -5 and an optimal solution of
$\mathbf{x} =
\begin{pmatrix}
2 \\
2 \\
3 \\
0
\end{pmatrix}$
But then the optimal solution to the (D) is just the optimal solution to
$$-5 = 3y_1 + 9y_2 + 6y_3,$$
which we find by $\mathbf{y}_{*}^T = \mathbf{c}^TB^{-1}$. We have $\mathbf{c}^T = \begin{pmatrix}
3 \\
-3 \\
-1
\end{pmatrix}$
and $B^{-1} =
\begin{pmatrix}
\frac{1}{3} & 1 & -\frac{4}{3} \\
0 & -1 & 2 \\
\frac{1}{3} & -1 & \frac{5}{3}
\end{pmatrix}$, from the last iteration of the two-phase method. Then $\mathbf{y}_{*}^T = \mathbf{c}^TB^{-1} =
\begin{pmatrix}
\frac{2}{3} & 7 & -\frac{35}{3}
\end{pmatrix}$, which yields $-5$ as the optimal value for the (D) too.
Best Answer
Yes, you can. That's precisely the statement of the Strong Duality Theorem, which asserts
Both the primal and the dual LP in your numerical example yield the same objective value. This is a consequence of the Strong Duality Theorem once you showed the existence of $\mathbf{x}_{*}$ in $(P)$ (by two-phase simplex method).
In practice, once you have computed $\mathbf{x}_{*}$, you can use Complementary Slackness condition to find $\mathbf{y}_{*}$.