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A convex cone that is a closed set in its ambient topology. In a finite-dimensional normed vector space, this means it contains every limit of its convergent sequences. For example, the positive semidefinite cone is closed because each test $X\mapsto x^{T}Xx$ is continuous.

Let real power series $f(t)={\sum }_{k\ge 0}{f}_k{t}^k$ and $g(t)={\sum }_{k\ge 0}{g}_k{t}^k$ converge on $[-1,1]$, with $f_k\ge |g_k|$ for every index including zero. If $X⪰0$ has entries there, applying $f$ within two diagonal blocks and $g$ across them preserves positive semidefiniteness. Indeed the coefficient matrix $H_k$ is a bipartite block-constant positive semidefinite matrix. Each $H_k\circ X^{\circ k}$ is positive semidefinite by the Schur product theorem, and their sum converges to the transformed matrix. Closedness of the positive semidefinite cone completes the proof. Convergence at one gives $\sum f_k<\infty$, so coefficient domination ensures absolute convergence of both series throughout the interval. Without the zero-index condition, $f=-1$, $g=0$ and $X=0$ give a counterexample.

Optimization of a linear function subject to affine constraints and membership in a closed convex cone. Choosing the positive semidefinite cone gives semidefinite programming; other choices include copositive optimization and completely positive optimization. Dual cones produce scalar-product bounds on feasible objectives.

A convex cone is a subset $C$ of a real vector space closed under nonnegative linear combinations: $ax+by\in C$ whenever $x,y\in C$ and $a,b\ge 0$. The positive semidefinite cone and the copositive cone are examples, ordered by inclusion through the positive-semidefinite-plus-nonnegative cone.

A pointed cone has no nonzero line through the origin: equivalently $K\cap (-K)=\{0\}$. If $A\in K\cap (-K)$, its quadratic form vanishes on the nonnegative orthant. Testing the coordinate vectors gives $A_{ii}=0$. Testing $e_i+e_j$ then givesSince $A$ is a symmetric matrix, every entry is zero. Thus $\boxed{K\cap (-K)=\{0\}}$.

The identity matrix gives an interior point. For a symmetric perturbation $E$ with operator norm $\Vert E{\Vert }_2<1$, the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality givesThis open norm ball around $I$ lies even in the positive semidefinite cone, hence in $K$. Consequently $\boxed{I\in \mathrm{int}K}$ and the interior is nonempty.

More generally, the interior of the copositive cone consists exactly of strictly copositive matrices. Positivity on the compact nonnegative unit sphere has a positive minimum and persists under small perturbations; a zero there is destroyed by an arbitrarily small negative multiple of $I$.

For each coefficient index $k\ge 0$, let $H_k$ have constant diagonal blocks $f_{k}J$ and cross blocks $g_{k}J$. The preceding block-constant argument gives $H_k⪰0$. Define the Hadamard powers $X^{\circ k}$, withThis is the constant entrywise power, including at zero entries; it is not the identity matrix. Repeated use of the Schur product theorem shows $X^{\circ k}⪰0$ for every $k\ge 0$.

Applying the Schur product theorem again makes every summand $H_k\circ X^{\circ k}$ positive semidefinite. The partial sums are positive semidefinite, and their entrywise limit is exactly $Y$. In finite dimension this is a matrix-norm limit; the positive semidefinite cone is closed. ConsequentlyEndpoint convergence follows from the stated expansions on the full interval: $f_k\ge 0$ and $\sum f_k=f(1)<\infty$, while $\sum |g_k|\le \sum f_k$. Thus the expansions converge absolutely at every matrix entry. This is coefficient-dominated entrywise positivity.

The coefficient condition must include index zero. We interpret the PDF's $\mathbb{N}$ accordingly. If it means only positive integers and no condition is imposed on $f_0,g_0$, the assertion is false: take $n=m=1$, $X=0$, $f=-1$ and $g=0$. All positive-index inequalities hold, but $Y=-I_2$.

A self-dual cone equals its dual cone under the specified inner product. The nonnegative orthant, second-order cone and positive semidefinite cone are standard examples. Self-duality of a set alone does not establish primal or dual feasibility.

For a proper cone $K$, suppose a point satisfies $Ax-b\in \mathrm{int}K$ and $p_{\ast }$ is finite. This generalized Slater condition gives strong duality and attainment of the conic dual problem's optimum. It does not by itself assert primal attainment.^[ref]

The two worked examples have strict primal points: $(u,v)=(2,2)$ has slack $(2,2,1)$ in the interior of the nonnegative orthant, and $(t,z)=(2,0)$ has slack $(2,1,0)$ in the interior of the second-order cone. Both optima were already certified by explicit feasible pairs. Slater's condition explains why a matching optimal dual variable can be expected under these hypotheses; checking a supplied zero-gap pair needs only weak duality.

Changing cone geometry preserves the bound mechanism. For a positive semidefinite cone, the dual cone pairing is the Frobenius inner product of two matrices. This connects the same certificate idea to semidefinite programming, while the central path uses strictly interior primal and dual points to approach vanishing gap.

In 1995, Lieven Vandenberghe and Stephen Boyd presented a primal-dual interior-point method for convex optimization with matrix inequalities. Their algorithmic study included exploiting problem structure and allowing incomplete conjugate gradient method solves within an iteration. This illustrates how the primal-dual viewpoint guides computation as well as checking a final answer.^[ref]