The Design of Approximation Algorithms
The Design of Approximation Algorithms

Author: David P. Williamson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-04-26

Total Pages: 518

ISBN-13: 9780521195270

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Discrete optimization problems are everywhere, from traditional operations research planning problems, such as scheduling, facility location, and network design; to computer science problems in databases; to advertising issues in viral marketing. Yet most such problems are NP-hard. Thus unless P = NP, there are no efficient algorithms to find optimal solutions to such problems. This book shows how to design approximation algorithms: efficient algorithms that find provably near-optimal solutions. The book is organized around central algorithmic techniques for designing approximation algorithms, including greedy and local search algorithms, dynamic programming, linear and semidefinite programming, and randomization. Each chapter in the first part of the book is devoted to a single algorithmic technique, which is then applied to several different problems. The second part revisits the techniques but offers more sophisticated treatments of them. The book also covers methods for proving that optimization problems are hard to approximate. Designed as a textbook for graduate-level algorithms courses, the book will also serve as a reference for researchers interested in the heuristic solution of discrete optimization problems.

Approximation Algorithms
Approximation Algorithms

Author: Vijay V. Vazirani

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-14

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 3662045656

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Covering the basic techniques used in the latest research work, the author consolidates progress made so far, including some very recent and promising results, and conveys the beauty and excitement of work in the field. He gives clear, lucid explanations of key results and ideas, with intuitive proofs, and provides critical examples and numerous illustrations to help elucidate the algorithms. Many of the results presented have been simplified and new insights provided. Of interest to theoretical computer scientists, operations researchers, and discrete mathematicians.

Approximation Algorithms and Semidefinite Programming
Approximation Algorithms and Semidefinite Programming

Author: Bernd Gärtner

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-01-10

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 3642220150

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Semidefinite programs constitute one of the largest classes of optimization problems that can be solved with reasonable efficiency - both in theory and practice. They play a key role in a variety of research areas, such as combinatorial optimization, approximation algorithms, computational complexity, graph theory, geometry, real algebraic geometry and quantum computing. This book is an introduction to selected aspects of semidefinite programming and its use in approximation algorithms. It covers the basics but also a significant amount of recent and more advanced material. There are many computational problems, such as MAXCUT, for which one cannot reasonably expect to obtain an exact solution efficiently, and in such case, one has to settle for approximate solutions. For MAXCUT and its relatives, exciting recent results suggest that semidefinite programming is probably the ultimate tool. Indeed, assuming the Unique Games Conjecture, a plausible but as yet unproven hypothesis, it was shown that for these problems, known algorithms based on semidefinite programming deliver the best possible approximation ratios among all polynomial-time algorithms. This book follows the “semidefinite side” of these developments, presenting some of the main ideas behind approximation algorithms based on semidefinite programming. It develops the basic theory of semidefinite programming, presents one of the known efficient algorithms in detail, and describes the principles of some others. It also includes applications, focusing on approximation algorithms.

Geometric Approximation Algorithms
Geometric Approximation Algorithms

Author: Sariel Har-Peled

Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 0821849115

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Exact algorithms for dealing with geometric objects are complicated, hard to implement in practice, and slow. Over the last 20 years a theory of geometric approximation algorithms has emerged. These algorithms tend to be simple, fast, and more robust than their exact counterparts. This book is the first to cover geometric approximation algorithms in detail. In addition, more traditional computational geometry techniques that are widely used in developing such algorithms, like sampling, linear programming, etc., are also surveyed. Other topics covered include approximate nearest-neighbor search, shape approximation, coresets, dimension reduction, and embeddings. The topics covered are relatively independent and are supplemented by exercises. Close to 200 color figures are included in the text to illustrate proofs and ideas.

Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms
Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms

Author: Ding-Zhu Du

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-11-18

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 1461417015

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This book is intended to be used as a textbook for graduate students studying theoretical computer science. It can also be used as a reference book for researchers in the area of design and analysis of approximation algorithms. Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms is a graduate course in theoretical computer science taught widely in the universities, both in the United States and abroad. There are, however, very few textbooks available for this course. Among those available in the market, most books follow a problem-oriented format; that is, they collected many important combinatorial optimization problems and their approximation algorithms, and organized them based on the types, or applications, of problems, such as geometric-type problems, algebraic-type problems, etc. Such arrangement of materials is perhaps convenient for a researcher to look for the problems and algorithms related to his/her work, but is difficult for a student to capture the ideas underlying the various algorithms. In the new book proposed here, we follow a more structured, technique-oriented presentation. We organize approximation algorithms into different chapters, based on the design techniques for the algorithms, so that the reader can study approximation algorithms of the same nature together. It helps the reader to better understand the design and analysis techniques for approximation algorithms, and also helps the teacher to present the ideas and techniques of approximation algorithms in a more unified way.

Approximation Algorithms for NP-hard Problems
Approximation Algorithms for NP-hard Problems

Author: Dorit S. Hochbaum

Publisher: Course Technology

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 632

ISBN-13:

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This is the first book to fully address the study of approximation algorithms as a tool for coping with intractable problems. With chapters contributed by leading researchers in the field, this book introduces unifying techniques in the analysis of approximation algorithms. APPROXIMATION ALGORITHMS FOR NP-HARD PROBLEMS is intended for computer scientists and operations researchers interested in specific algorithm implementations, as well as design tools for algorithms. Among the techniques discussed: the use of linear programming, primal-dual techniques in worst-case analysis, semidefinite programming, computational geometry techniques, randomized algorithms, average-case analysis, probabilistically checkable proofs and inapproximability, and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. The text includes a variety of pedagogical features: definitions, exercises, open problems, glossary of problems, index, and notes on how best to use the book.

Stochastic Approximation and Recursive Algorithms and Applications
Stochastic Approximation and Recursive Algorithms and Applications

Author: Harold Kushner

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-05-04

Total Pages: 485

ISBN-13: 038721769X

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This book presents a thorough development of the modern theory of stochastic approximation or recursive stochastic algorithms for both constrained and unconstrained problems. This second edition is a thorough revision, although the main features and structure remain unchanged. It contains many additional applications and results as well as more detailed discussion.

Handbook of Approximation Algorithms and Metaheuristics
Handbook of Approximation Algorithms and Metaheuristics

Author: Teofilo F. Gonzalez

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 840

ISBN-13: 1351236407

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Handbook of Approximation Algorithms and Metaheuristics, Second Edition reflects the tremendous growth in the field, over the past two decades. Through contributions from leading experts, this handbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the underlying theory and methodologies, as well as the various applications of approximation algorithms and metaheuristics. Volume 1 of this two-volume set deals primarily with methodologies and traditional applications. It includes restriction, relaxation, local ratio, approximation schemes, randomization, tabu search, evolutionary computation, local search, neural networks, and other metaheuristics. It also explores multi-objective optimization, reoptimization, sensitivity analysis, and stability. Traditional applications covered include: bin packing, multi-dimensional packing, Steiner trees, traveling salesperson, scheduling, and related problems. Volume 2 focuses on the contemporary and emerging applications of methodologies to problems in combinatorial optimization, computational geometry and graphs problems, as well as in large-scale and emerging application areas. It includes approximation algorithms and heuristics for clustering, networks (sensor and wireless), communication, bioinformatics search, streams, virtual communities, and more. About the Editor Teofilo F. Gonzalez is a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He completed his Ph.D. in 1975 from the University of Minnesota. He taught at the University of Oklahoma, the Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Texas at Dallas, before joining the UCSB computer science faculty in 1984. He spent sabbatical leaves at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and Utrecht University. He is known for his highly cited pioneering research in the hardness of approximation; for his sublinear and best possible approximation algorithm for k-tMM clustering; for introducing the open-shop scheduling problem as well as algorithms for its solution that have found applications in numerous research areas; as well as for his research on problems in the areas of job scheduling, graph algorithms, computational geometry, message communication, wire routing, etc.

Approximation and Optimization
Approximation and Optimization

Author: Ioannis C. Demetriou

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-05-10

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 3030127672

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This book focuses on the development of approximation-related algorithms and their relevant applications. Individual contributions are written by leading experts and reflect emerging directions and connections in data approximation and optimization. Chapters discuss state of the art topics with highly relevant applications throughout science, engineering, technology and social sciences. Academics, researchers, data science practitioners, business analysts, social sciences investigators and graduate students will find the number of illustrations, applications, and examples provided useful. This volume is based on the conference Approximation and Optimization: Algorithms, Complexity, and Applications, which was held in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, June 29–30, 2017. The mix of survey and research content includes topics in approximations to discrete noisy data; binary sequences; design of networks and energy systems; fuzzy control; large scale optimization; noisy data; data-dependent approximation; networked control systems; machine learning ; optimal design; no free lunch theorem; non-linearly constrained optimization; spectroscopy.

Approximation Theory and Algorithms for Data Analysis
Approximation Theory and Algorithms for Data Analysis

Author: Armin Iske

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-14

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 3030052281

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This textbook offers an accessible introduction to the theory and numerics of approximation methods, combining classical topics of approximation with recent advances in mathematical signal processing, and adopting a constructive approach, in which the development of numerical algorithms for data analysis plays an important role. The following topics are covered: * least-squares approximation and regularization methods * interpolation by algebraic and trigonometric polynomials * basic results on best approximations * Euclidean approximation * Chebyshev approximation * asymptotic concepts: error estimates and convergence rates * signal approximation by Fourier and wavelet methods * kernel-based multivariate approximation * approximation methods in computerized tomography Providing numerous supporting examples, graphical illustrations, and carefully selected exercises, this textbook is suitable for introductory courses, seminars, and distance learning programs on approximation for undergraduate students.