Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 339 / 1 / b

The required linear program isThere are $2n$ inequality constraints and one equality constraint, all independent of $x$.

The feasible set is the capped simplex, a nonempty compact set. A linear function attains its maximum at an extreme point; the previous part identifies these as the indicators of $k$-element subsets. At such a vector, the objective is the sum of the selected coordinates. Maximizing selects the $k$ largest coordinates, including when some are negative or tied. Equivalently, $f_k$ is the support function called the sum of the largest components.