10,157 research outputs found
Constant-Factor Approximation for TSP with Disks
We revisit the traveling salesman problem with neighborhoods (TSPN) and
present the first constant-ratio approximation for disks in the plane: Given a
set of disks in the plane, a TSP tour whose length is at most times
the optimal can be computed in time that is polynomial in . Our result is
the first constant-ratio approximation for a class of planar convex bodies of
arbitrary size and arbitrary intersections. In order to achieve a
-approximation, we reduce the traveling salesman problem with disks, up
to constant factors, to a minimum weight hitting set problem in a geometric
hypergraph. The connection between TSPN and hitting sets in geometric
hypergraphs, established here, is likely to have future applications.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
Deconstructing Approximate Offsets
We consider the offset-deconstruction problem: Given a polygonal shape Q with
n vertices, can it be expressed, up to a tolerance \eps in Hausdorff distance,
as the Minkowski sum of another polygonal shape P with a disk of fixed radius?
If it does, we also seek a preferably simple-looking solution P; then, P's
offset constitutes an accurate, vertex-reduced, and smoothened approximation of
Q. We give an O(n log n)-time exact decision algorithm that handles any
polygonal shape, assuming the real-RAM model of computation. A variant of the
algorithm, which we have implemented using CGAL, is based on rational
arithmetic and answers the same deconstruction problem up to an uncertainty
parameter \delta; its running time additionally depends on \delta. If the input
shape is found to be approximable, this algorithm also computes an approximate
solution for the problem. It also allows us to solve parameter-optimization
problems induced by the offset-deconstruction problem. For convex shapes, the
complexity of the exact decision algorithm drops to O(n), which is also the
time required to compute a solution P with at most one more vertex than a
vertex-minimal one.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, previous version accepted at SoCG 2011,
submitted to DC
The Traveling Salesman Problem: Low-Dimensionality Implies a Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme
The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is among the most famous NP-hard
optimization problems. We design for this problem a randomized polynomial-time
algorithm that computes a (1+eps)-approximation to the optimal tour, for any
fixed eps>0, in TSP instances that form an arbitrary metric space with bounded
intrinsic dimension.
The celebrated results of Arora (A-98) and Mitchell (M-99) prove that the
above result holds in the special case of TSP in a fixed-dimensional Euclidean
space. Thus, our algorithm demonstrates that the algorithmic tractability of
metric TSP depends on the dimensionality of the space and not on its specific
geometry. This result resolves a problem that has been open since the
quasi-polynomial time algorithm of Talwar (T-04)
Novel Approach to Real Polynomial Root-finding and Matrix Eigen-solving
Univariate polynomial root-finding is both classical and important for modern
computing. Frequently one seeks just the real roots of a polynomial with real
coefficients. They can be approximated at a low computational cost if the
polynomial has no nonreal roots, but typically nonreal roots are much more
numerous than the real ones. We dramatically accelerate the known algorithms in
this case by exploiting the correlation between the computations with matrices
and polynomials, extending the techniques of the matrix sign iteration, and
exploiting the structure of the companion matrix of the input polynomial. We
extend some of the proposed techniques to the approximation of the real
eigenvalues of a real nonsymmetric matrix.Comment: 17 pages, added algorithm
Approximate Set Union Via Approximate Randomization
We develop an randomized approximation algorithm for the size of set union
problem \arrowvert A_1\cup A_2\cup...\cup A_m\arrowvert, which given a list
of sets with approximate set size for with , and biased random generators
with Prob(x=\randomElm(A_i))\in \left[{1-\alpha_L\over |A_i|},{1+\alpha_R\over
|A_i|}\right] for each input set and element where . The approximation ratio for \arrowvert A_1\cup A_2\cup...\cup
A_m\arrowvert is in the range for any , where
. The complexity of the algorithm
is measured by both time complexity, and round complexity. The algorithm is
allowed to make multiple membership queries and get random elements from the
input sets in one round. Our algorithm makes adaptive accesses to input sets
with multiple rounds. Our algorithm gives an approximation scheme with
O(\setCount\cdot(\log \setCount)^{O(1)}) running time and rounds,
where is the number of sets. Our algorithm can handle input sets that can
generate random elements with bias, and its approximation ratio depends on the
bias. Our algorithm gives a flexible tradeoff with time complexity
O\left(\setCount^{1+\xi}\right) and round complexity for any
Sharpening Geometric Inequalities using Computable Symmetry Measures
Many classical geometric inequalities on functionals of convex bodies depend
on the dimension of the ambient space. We show that this dimension dependence
may often be replaced (totally or partially) by different symmetry measures of
the convex body. Since these coefficients are bounded by the dimension but
possibly smaller, our inequalities sharpen the original ones. Since they can
often be computed efficiently, the improved bounds may also be used to obtain
better bounds in approximation algorithms.Comment: This is a preprint. The proper publication in final form is available
at journals.cambridge.org, DOI 10.1112/S002557931400029
Fast approximation of centrality and distances in hyperbolic graphs
We show that the eccentricities (and thus the centrality indices) of all
vertices of a -hyperbolic graph can be computed in linear
time with an additive one-sided error of at most , i.e., after a
linear time preprocessing, for every vertex of one can compute in
time an estimate of its eccentricity such that
for a small constant . We
prove that every -hyperbolic graph has a shortest path tree,
constructible in linear time, such that for every vertex of ,
. These results are based on an
interesting monotonicity property of the eccentricity function of hyperbolic
graphs: the closer a vertex is to the center of , the smaller its
eccentricity is. We also show that the distance matrix of with an additive
one-sided error of at most can be computed in
time, where is a small constant. Recent empirical studies show that
many real-world graphs (including Internet application networks, web networks,
collaboration networks, social networks, biological networks, and others) have
small hyperbolicity. So, we analyze the performance of our algorithms for
approximating centrality and distance matrix on a number of real-world
networks. Our experimental results show that the obtained estimates are even
better than the theoretical bounds.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1506.01799 by other author
New Structured Matrix Methods for Real and Complex Polynomial Root-finding
We combine the known methods for univariate polynomial root-finding and for
computations in the Frobenius matrix algebra with our novel techniques to
advance numerical solution of a univariate polynomial equation, and in
particular numerical approximation of the real roots of a polynomial. Our
analysis and experiments show efficiency of the resulting algorithms.Comment: 18 page
Distance Oracles for Time-Dependent Networks
We present the first approximate distance oracle for sparse directed networks
with time-dependent arc-travel-times determined by continuous, piecewise
linear, positive functions possessing the FIFO property.
Our approach precomputes approximate distance summaries from
selected landmark vertices to all other vertices in the network. Our oracle
uses subquadratic space and time preprocessing, and provides two sublinear-time
query algorithms that deliver constant and approximate
shortest-travel-times, respectively, for arbitrary origin-destination pairs in
the network, for any constant . Our oracle is based only on
the sparsity of the network, along with two quite natural assumptions about
travel-time functions which allow the smooth transition towards asymmetric and
time-dependent distance metrics.Comment: A preliminary version appeared as Technical Report ECOMPASS-TR-025 of
EU funded research project eCOMPASS (http://www.ecompass-project.eu/). An
extended abstract also appeared in the 41st International Colloquium on
Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2014, track-A
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