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.


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.


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.


Combinatorial Optimization -- Eureka, You Shrink!

Combinatorial Optimization -- Eureka, You Shrink!

Author: Michael Jünger

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2003-07-01

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 3540364781

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This book is dedicated to Jack Edmonds in appreciation of his ground breaking work that laid the foundations for a broad variety of subsequent results achieved in combinatorial optimization.The main part consists of 13 revised full papers on current topics in combinatorial optimization, presented at Aussois 2001, the Fifth Aussois Workshop on Combinatorial Optimization, March 5-9, 2001, and dedicated to Jack Edmonds.Additional highlights in this book are an account of an Aussois 2001 special session dedicated to Jack Edmonds including a speech given by William R. Pulleyblank as well as newly typeset versions of three up-to-now hardly accessible classical papers:- Submodular Functions, Matroids, and Certain Polyhedranbsp;nbsp; by Jack Edmonds- Matching: A Well-Solved Class of Integer Linear Programsnbsp;nbsp; by Jack Edmonds and Ellis L. Johnson- Theoretical Improvements in Algorithmic Efficiency for Network Flow Problemsnbsp;nbsp; by Jack Edmonds and Richard M. Karp.


Complexity and Approximation

Complexity and Approximation

Author: Giorgio Ausiello

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 3642584128

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This book documents the state of the art in combinatorial optimization, presenting approximate solutions of virtually all relevant classes of NP-hard optimization problems. The wealth of problems, algorithms, results, and techniques make it an indispensible source of reference for professionals. The text smoothly integrates numerous illustrations, examples, and exercises.


Algorithmics for Hard Problems

Algorithmics for Hard Problems

Author: Juraj Hromkovič

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-03-12

Total Pages: 494

ISBN-13: 9783662046173

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An introduction to the methods of designing algorithms for hard computing tasks, concentrating mainly on approximate, randomized, and heuristic algorithms, and on the theoretical and experimental comparison of these approaches according to the requirements of the practice. This is the first book to systematically explain and compare all the main possibilities of attacking hard computing problems. It also closes the gap between theory and practice by providing at once a graduate textbook and a handbook for practitioners dealing with hard computing problems.


Randomization and Approximation Techniques in Computer Science

Randomization and Approximation Techniques in Computer Science

Author: Jose Rolim

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1997-06-25

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9783540632481

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Astronomy is the oldest and most fundamental of the natural sciences. From the early beginnings of civilization astronomers have attempted to explain not only what the Universe is and how it works, but also how it started, how it evolved to the present day, and how it will develop in the future. The author, a well-known astronomer himself, describes the evolution of astronomical ideas, briefly discussing most of the instrumental developments. Using numerous figures to elucidate the mechanisms involved, the book starts with the astronomical ideas of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian philosophers, moves on to the Greek period, and then to the golden age of astronomy, i.e. to Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, and ends with modern theories of cosmology. Written with undergraduate students in mind, this book gives a fascinating survey of astronomical thinking.


Handbook of Combinatorial Optimization

Handbook of Combinatorial Optimization

Author: Ding-Zhu Du

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-08-18

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 0387238301

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This is a supplementary volume to the major three-volume Handbook of Combinatorial Optimization set. It can also be regarded as a stand-alone volume presenting chapters dealing with various aspects of the subject in a self-contained way.


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.


P, NP, and NP-Completeness

P, NP, and NP-Completeness

Author: Oded Goldreich

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-08-16

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139490095

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The focus of this book is the P versus NP Question and the theory of NP-completeness. It also provides adequate preliminaries regarding computational problems and computational models. The P versus NP Question asks whether or not finding solutions is harder than checking the correctness of solutions. An alternative formulation asks whether or not discovering proofs is harder than verifying their correctness. It is widely believed that the answer to these equivalent formulations is positive, and this is captured by saying that P is different from NP. Although the P versus NP Question remains unresolved, the theory of NP-completeness offers evidence for the intractability of specific problems in NP by showing that they are universal for the entire class. Amazingly enough, NP-complete problems exist, and furthermore hundreds of natural computational problems arising in many different areas of mathematics and science are NP-complete.