The Satisfiability Threshold for Non-Uniform Random 2-SAT

Propositional satisfiability (SAT) is one of the most fundamental problems in computer science. Its worst-case hardness lies at the core of computational complexity theory, for example in the form of NP-hardness and the (Strong) Exponential Time Hypothesis. In practice however, SAT instances can often be solved efficiently. This contradicting behavior has spawned interest in the average-case analysis of SAT and has triggered the development of sophisticated rigorous and non-rigorous techniques for analyzing random structures. Despite a long line of research and substantial progress, most theoretical work on random SAT assumes a uniform distribution on the variables. In contrast, real-world instances often exhibit large fluctuations in variable occurrence. This can be modeled by a non-uniform distribution of the variables, which can result in distributions closer to industrial SAT instances. We study satisfiability thresholds of non-uniform random 2-SAT with n variables and m clauses and with an arbitrary probability distribution (p_i)_{i in[n]} with p_1 >=slant p_2 >=slant ... >=slant p_n>0 over the n variables. We show for p_{1}^2=Theta (sum_{i=1}^n p_i^2) that the asymptotic satisfiability threshold is at {m=Theta ((1-{sum_{i=1}^n p_i^2})/(p_1 * (sum_{i=2}^n p_i^2)^{1/2}))} and that it is coarse. For p_{1}^2=o (sum_{i=1}^n p_i^2) we show that there is a sharp satisfiability threshold at m=(sum_{i=1}^n p_i^2)^{-1}. This result generalizes the seminal works by Chvatal and Reed [FOCS 1992] and by Goerdt [JCSS 1996]

Greed is Good for Deterministic Scale-Free Networks

Large real-world networks typically follow a power-law degree distribution. To study such networks, numerous random graph models have been proposed. However, real-world networks are not drawn at random. In fact, the behavior of real-world networks and random graph models can be the complete opposite of one another, depending on the considered property. Brach, Cygan, Lacki, and Sankowski [SODA 2016] introduced two natural deterministic conditions: (1) a power-law upper bound on the degree distribution (PLB-U) and (2) power-law neighborhoods, that is, the degree distribution of neighbors of each vertex is also upper bounded by a power law (PLB-N). They showed that many real-world networks satisfy both deterministic properties and exploit them to design faster algorithms for a number of classical graph problems like transitive closure, maximum matching, determinant, PageRank, matrix inverse, counting triangles and maximum clique. We complement the work of Brach et al. by showing that some well-studied random graph models exhibit both the mentioned PLB properties and additionally also a power-law lower bound on the degree distribution (PLB-L). All three properties hold with high probability for Chung-Lu Random Graphs and Geometric Inhomogeneous Random Graphs and almost surely for Hyperbolic Random Graphs. As a consequence, all results of Brach et al. also hold with high probability for Chung-Lu Random Graphs and Geometric Inhomogeneous Random Graphs and almost surely for Hyperbolic Random Graphs. In the second part of this work we study three classical NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems on PLB networks. It is known that on general graphs, a greedy algorithm, which chooses nodes in the order of their degree, only achieves an approximation factor of asymptotically at least logarithmic in the maximum degree for Minimum Vertex Cover and Minimum Dominating Set, and an approximation factor of asymptotically at least the maximum degree for Maximum Independent Set. We prove that the PLB-U property suffices such that the greedy approach achieves a constant-factor approximation for all three problems. We also show that all three combinatorial optimization problems are APX-complete, even if all PLB-properties hold. Hence, a PTAS cannot be expected, unless P=NP

Bounds on the Satisfiability Threshold for Power Law Distributed Random SAT

Propositional satisfiability (SAT) is one of the most fundamental problems in computer science. The worst-case hardness of SAT lies at the core of computational complexity theory. The average-case analysis of SAT has triggered the development of sophisticated rigorous and non-rigorous techniques for analyzing random structures. Despite a long line of research and substantial progress, nearly all theoretical work on random SAT assumes a uniform distribution on the variables. In contrast, real-world instances often exhibit large fluctuations in variable occurrence. This can be modeled by a scale-free distribution of the variables, which results in distributions closer to industrial SAT instances. We study random k-SAT on n variables, m = Theta(n) clauses, and a power law distribution on the variable occurrences with exponent beta. We observe a satisfiability threshold at beta = (2k-1)/(k-1). This threshold is tight in the sense that instances with beta 0 are unsatisfiable with high probability (w.h.p.). For beta >= (2k-1)/(k-1)+epsilon, the picture is reminiscent of the uniform case: instances are satisfiable w.h.p. for sufficiently small constant clause-variable ratios m/n; they are unsatisfiable above a ratio m/n that depends on beta

Probabilistic Routing for On-Street Parking Search

An estimated 30% of urban traffic is caused by search for parking spots [Shoup, 2005]. Suggesting routes along highly probable parking spots could reduce traffic. In this paper, we formalize parking search as a probabilistic problem on a road graph and show that it is NP-complete. We explore heuristics that optimize for the driving duration and the walking distance to the destination. Routes are constrained to reach a certain probability threshold of finding a spot. Empirically estimated probabilities of successful parking attempts are provided by TomTom on a per-street basis. We release these probabilities as a dataset of about 80,000 roads covering the Berlin area. This allows to evaluate parking search algorithms on a real road network with realistic probabilities for the first time. However, for many other areas, parking probabilities are not openly available. Because they are effortful to collect, we propose an algorithm that relies on conventional road attributes only. Our experiments show that this algorithm comes close to the baseline by a factor of 1.3 in our cost measure. This leads to the conclusion that conventional road attributes may be sufficient to compute reasonably good parking search routes

Phase Transitions for Scale-Free SAT Formulas

Recently, a number of non-uniform random satisfiability models have been proposed that are closer to practical satisfiability problems in some characteristics. In contrast to uniform random Boolean formulas, scale-free formulas have a variable occurrence distribution that follows a power law. It has been conjectured that such a distribution is a more accurate model for some industrial instances than the uniform random model. Though it seems that there is already an awareness of a threshold phenomenon in such models, there is still a complete picture lacking. In contrast to the uniform model, the critical density threshold does not lie at a single point, but instead exhibits a functional dependency on the power-law exponent. For scale-free formulas with clauses of length k=2, we give a lower bound on the phase transition threshold as a function of the scaling parameter. We also perform computational studies that suggest our bound is tight and investigate the critical density for formulas with higher clause lengths. Similar to the uniform model, on formulas with k>=3, we find that the phase transition regime corresponds to a set of formulas that are difficult to solve by backtracking search

The Impact of Heterogeneity and Geometry on the Proof Complexity of Random Satisfiability

[EN]Satisfiability is considered the canonical NP-complete problem and is used as a starting point for hardness reductions in theory, while in practice heuristic SAT solving algorithms can solve large-scale industrial SAT instances very efficiently. This disparity between theory and practice is believed to be a result of inherent properties of industrial SAT instances that make them tractable. Two characteristic properties seem to be prevalent in the majority of real-world SAT instances, heterogeneous degree distribution and locality. To understand the impact of these two properties on SAT, we study the proof complexity of random k-SAT models that allow to control heterogeneity and locality. Our findings show that heterogeneity alone does not make SAT easy as heterogeneous random k-SAT instances have superpolynomial resolution size. This implies intractability of these instances for modern SAT-solvers. On the other hand, modeling locality with an underlying geometry leads to small unsatisfiable subformulas, which can be found within polynomial time. A key ingredient for the result on geometric random k-SAT can be found in the complexity of higher-order Voronoi diagrams. As an additional technical contribution, we show a linear upper bound on the number of non-empty Voronoi regions, that holds for points with random positions in a very general setting. In particular, it covers arbitrary p-norms, higher dimensions, and weights affecting the area of influence of each point multiplicatively. This is in stark contrast to quadratic lower bounds for the worst case.This work is partially funded by the project Scale-Free Satisfiability (project no. 416061626) of the German Research Foundation (DFG).Peer reviewe

Mixed Integer Programming versus Evolutionary Computation for Optimizing a Hard Real-World Staff Assignment Problem

Assigning staff to engagements according to hard constraints while optimizing several objectives is a task encountered by many companies on a regular basis. Simplified versions of such assignment problems are NP-hard. Despite this, a typical approach to solving them consists of formulating them as mixed integer programming (MIP) problems and using a stateof-the-art solver to get solutions that closely approximate the optimum.In this paper, we consider a complex real-world staff assignment problem encountered by the professional service company KPMG, with the goal of finding an algorithm that solves it faster and with a better solution than a commercial MIP solver. We follow the evolutionary algorithm (EA) metaheuristic and design a search heuristic which iteratively improves a solution using domain-specific mutation operators. Furthermore, we use a flow algorithm to optimally solve a subproblem, which tremendously reduces the search space for the EA.For our real-world instance of the assignment problem, given the same total time budget of 100 hours, a parallel EA approach finds a solution that is only 1.7% away from an upper bound for the (unknown) optimum within under five hours, while the MIP solver Gurobi still has a gap of 10.5%

ADHD management during the COVID-19 pandemic: guidance from the European ADHD Guidelines Group

status: Published onlin

ADHD management during the COVID-19 pandemic: guidance from the European ADHD Guidelines Group

status: Published onlin