Classic group testing with cost for grouping and testing

  • Authors:

  • Danny W. Turner;James D. Stamey;Dean M. Young

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Mathematics, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC 29733, USA;Department of Statistical Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7140, USA;Department of Statistical Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7140, USA

  • Venue:
  • Computers & Mathematics with Applications
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

We generalize the classical group testing problem to incorporate costs associated with pooling and inspection, both of which are significant factors in actual applications. We formulate the expected cost model as a nonlinear integer programming problem, prove several propositions and a theorem concerning when pooling is more efficient than individual testing, and determine the optimal group size such that the expected cost is minimized.