1. Introduction
Minimax is a decision rule used in decision theory, game theory, statistics, and philosophy for minimizing the possible loss for a worst case (maximum loss) scenario. In general, a minimax problem can be formulated as
      
      where 
 is a function defined on the space 
X. Many minimax problems often arise in engineering design, computer-aided-design, circuit design, and optimal control. Some of the problems arising in engineering, economics, and mathematics are of the following form:
Minimize a function  subject to , where  is one of the following functions:
-  (a) 
-  (b) 
-  (c) 
-  (d) 
- 
           where the sets  depend on x and  are given sets, 
-  (e) 
Such problems often appear in the engineering design theory. In recent years, much attention was paid to the problems described. The minimax theory deals with the following problems:
- (1)
- Necessary and sufficient conditions and their geometric interpretation [ 1- , 2- ]; 
- (2)
- Steepest-descent directions and their applications to constructing numerical methods. The problems have been widely discussed and studied for the function ; 
- (3)
- Saddle points: The problem of finding saddle points is a special case of minimax problems (see survey [ 3- ]); 
- (4)
- Optimal control problems with a minimax criterion function. 
These facts indicate that minimax theory will continue to be an important tool for solving difficult and interesting problems. In addition, minimax methods provide a paradigm for investigating analogous problems. An exciting future with new unified theories may be expected. Optimization problems, in which both a minimization and a maximization process are performed, are known as minimax problems in the area of mathematical programming. For more details, we refer to Stancu-Minasian [
4]. Tanimoto [
5] applied these optimality conditions to construct a dual problem and established duality theorems. Many researchers have done work related to the same area [
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14].
Fractional programming is an interesting subject which features in several types of optimization problems, such as inventory problem, game theory, and in many other cases. In addition, it can be used in engineering and economics to minimize a ratio of functions between a given period of time and as a utilized resource in order to measure the efficiency of a system. In these sorts of problems, the objective function is usually given as a ratio of functions in fractional programming from (see [
15,
16]).
Motivated by various concepts of generalized convexity, Liang et al. [
17] introduced the concept of 
-convex functions. Hachimi and Aghezzaf [
18], with prior definitions of generalized convexity, extended the concept further to 
-type I functions and gave the sufficient optimality conditions and mixed-type duality results for the multiobjective programming problem.
This paper is divided into four sections. 
Section 2 contains definitions of higher-order strictly pseudo 
-type-I functions. In 
Section 3, we concentrate our discussion on a nondifferentiable minimax fractional programming problem and formulate the higher-order dual model. We establish duality theorems under higher-order strictly pseudo 
-type-I functions. In the final section, we turn our attention to discuss a nondifferentiable mixed-type minimax fractional programming problem and establish duality relations under the same assumptions.
  2. Preliminaries and Definitions
Throughout this paper, we use  and 
Definition 1. Let Q be a compact convex set in . The support function of Q is denoted by  and defined by The support function , being convex and everywhere finite, has a Clarke subdifferential [8], in the sense of convex analysis. The subdifferential of  is given by For any set S, the normal case to S at a point , denoted by  and denoted by It is readily verified that for a compact convex set  if and only if  or equivalently, x is in the Clarke subdifferential of s at 
 Consider the following nondifferentiable minimax fractional programming problem (FP):
(FP) Minimize 
,
	   
	  where 
Y is a compact subject of 
 and 
 are continuously differentiable functions on 
 and 
. 
C, 
D, and 
 are compact convex sets in 
, and 
, and 
 designate the support functions of compact sets.
	  
		and
        
 Assume that  and  (satisfying ). Let  and  be twice differentiable functions.
Definition 2.  is said to be higher-order -type -I at , if ∃, and η such that , and  we have
 Remark 1. In the above definition, if the inequalities appear as strict inequalities, then we say that  is higher-order strict -type-I.
 Remark 2. If  and , then Definition 2 becomes α-type-I at  given by [19].  Definition 3.  is said to be higher-order pseudoquasi -type -I at , if , and η such that , and  we have
 Remark 3. In Definition 3, if  then  is higher-order strictly pseudoquasi -type-I.
 Remark 4. If  and , then Definition 3 reduces to α-type-I at , given by [19].  Theorem 1 (Necessary condition). 
If  is an optimal solution of problem (FP) satisfying , and  are linearly independent, then  and  such that   3. Higher-Order Nondifferentiable Duality Model
The study of higher-order duality is more significant due to the computational advantage over second- and first-order duality as it provides tighter bounds due to presence of more parameters. In the present article, we formulate a new type of duality model for a nondifferentiable minimax fractional programming problem and derive duality theorems under generalized convexity assumptions. Additionally, we use the concept of support function as a nondifferentiable term. Consider the following dual (HFD) of the problem (FP):
        
       where 
 represents the set of all 
 such that
Let  be the feasible set for (HFD).
Theorem 2 (Weak Duality). Let  and . Let
-  (i) 
-  be higher-order - type -I at z, 
-  (ii) 
Then,
 Proof.  We shall derive the result by assuming contrary to the above inequality. Suppose
This implies
Further, using  and , we get
By inequality (7), we obtain
By hypothesis , we get
		and
Multiplying the first inequality by  and the second by  with  we get
        and
The above inequalities yield
The above inequality together with (11), , and hypothesis  yield
        which contradicts (5). This completes the proof. □
 Theorem 3 (Strong duality)
. Suppose the set  is linearly independent. Let an optimal solution of (FP) be , further, supposeThen, there exist  and  such that  and the objectives have the equal values. Moreover, if all the conditions of Weak duality theorem hold for any , then  is an optimal solution of (HFD).
 Proof.  By Theorem 1, 
 such that
        
		which, from (17) and (18), imply 
 and the problems (FP) and (HFD) have the same objective value. The point 
 is an optimal solution for (HFD) follows from Theorem 2. This completes the proof. □
 Theorem 4 (Strict converse duality). Suppose that  and  are the optimal solutions of (FP) and (HFD), respectively. Let
-  (i) 
-  be higher-order strictly - type -I and the set  be linearly independent, 
-  (ii) 
Then, .
 Proof.  Suppose contrary to the result that  From Theorem 3, we have
Thus, we obtain
Following on the lines of Theorem 2, we get
From hypothesis , we have
        and
Multiplying the first inequality by  and the second by  with  we get
        and
The above inequalities yield
It follows from (11), 
, and hypothesis 
 that
		
         which contradicts (25). Hence, 
.  □
   4. Mixed-Type Higher-Order Duality Model
Consider the following higher-order unified dual (HMFD) to (FP):
(HMFD)
       where  represents the set of all  such that
      where 
 with 
 and 
, if 
. Let 
 be the feasible set for (HMFD).
Theorem 5 (Weak duality). Let  and . Let
-  (i) 
-  be higher-order pseudoquasi -type -I, 
-  (ii) 
Then,
 Proof.  Proof follows on the lines of Theorem   □
 Theorem 6 (Strong duality)
. Suppose the set  is linearly independent. Let an optimal solution of (FP) be , further, supposeThen,  and  such that  and the two objectives have the equal values. In addition, if all the conditions of Weak duality theorem hold for any , then  is an optimal solution of (HMFD).
 Proof.  The proof can be obtained following the lines of Theorem 3. □
 Theorem 7 (Strict converse duality). Let  and  be the optimal solutions of (FP) and (HMFD), respectively. Let
-  (i) 
-  be higher-order strictly pseudo - type -I and  be linearly independent, 
-  (ii) 
Then, .
 Proof.  The proof can be derived following the steps of Theorem 4. □