7,399 research outputs found
Approximate solution of NP optimization problems
AbstractThis paper presents the main results obtained in the field of approximation algorithms in a unified framework. Most of these results have been revisited in order to emphasize two basic tools useful for characterizing approximation classes, that is, combinatorial properties of problems and approximation preserving reducibilities. In particular, after reviewing the most important combinatorial characterizations of the classes PTAS and FPTAS, we concentrate on the class APX and, as a concluding result, we show that this class coincides with the class of optimization problems which are reducible to the maximum satisfiability problem with respect to a polynomial-time approximation preserving reducibility
Balanced Combinations of Solutions in Multi-Objective Optimization
For every list of integers x_1, ..., x_m there is some j such that x_1 + ...
+ x_j - x_{j+1} - ... - x_m \approx 0. So the list can be nearly balanced and
for this we only need one alternation between addition and subtraction. But
what if the x_i are k-dimensional integer vectors? Using results from
topological degree theory we show that balancing is still possible, now with k
alternations.
This result is useful in multi-objective optimization, as it allows a
polynomial-time computable balance of two alternatives with conflicting costs.
The application to two multi-objective optimization problems yields the
following results:
- A randomized 1/2-approximation for multi-objective maximum asymmetric
traveling salesman, which improves and simplifies the best known approximation
for this problem.
- A deterministic 1/2-approximation for multi-objective maximum weighted
satisfiability
Low-rank semidefinite programming for the MAX2SAT problem
This paper proposes a new algorithm for solving MAX2SAT problems based on
combining search methods with semidefinite programming approaches. Semidefinite
programming techniques are well-known as a theoretical tool for approximating
maximum satisfiability problems, but their application has traditionally been
very limited by their speed and randomized nature. Our approach overcomes this
difficult by using a recent approach to low-rank semidefinite programming,
specialized to work in an incremental fashion suitable for use in an exact
search algorithm. The method can be used both within complete or incomplete
solver, and we demonstrate on a variety of problems from recent competitions.
Our experiments show that the approach is faster (sometimes by orders of
magnitude) than existing state-of-the-art complete and incomplete solvers,
representing a substantial advance in search methods specialized for MAX2SAT
problems.Comment: Accepted at AAAI'19. The code can be found at
https://github.com/locuslab/mixsa
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