PPSZ for General k-SAT - Making Hertli\u27s Analysis Simpler and 3-SAT Faster

The currently fastest known algorithm for k-SAT is PPSZ named after its inventors Paturi, Pudlak, Saks, and Zane. Analyzing its running time is much easier for input formulas with a unique satisfying assignment. In this paper, we achieve three goals. First, we simplify Hertli\u27s analysis for input formulas with multiple satisfying assignments. Second, we show a "translation result": if you improve PPSZ for k-CNF formulas with a unique satisfying assignment, you will immediately get a (weaker) improvement for general k-CNF formulas. Combining this with a result by Hertli from 2014, in which he gives an algorithm for Unique-3-SAT slightly beating PPSZ, we obtain an algorithm beating PPSZ for general 3-SAT, thus obtaining the so far best known worst-case bounds for 3-SAT

A comparative runtime analysis of heuristic algorithms for satisfiability problems

AbstractThe satisfiability problem is a basic core NP-complete problem. In recent years, a lot of heuristic algorithms have been developed to solve this problem, and many experiments have evaluated and compared the performance of different heuristic algorithms. However, rigorous theoretical analysis and comparison are rare. This paper analyzes and compares the expected runtime of three basic heuristic algorithms: RandomWalk, (1+1) EA, and hybrid algorithm. The runtime analysis of these heuristic algorithms on two 2-SAT instances shows that the expected runtime of these heuristic algorithms can be exponential time or polynomial time. Furthermore, these heuristic algorithms have their own advantages and disadvantages in solving different SAT instances. It also demonstrates that the expected runtime upper bound of RandomWalk on arbitrary k-SAT (k⩾3) is O((k−1)n), and presents a k-SAT instance that has Θ((k−1)n) expected runtime bound