Improved Bounds for Open Online Dial-a-Ride on the Line

We consider the open, non-preemptive online Dial-a-Ride problem on the real line, where transportation requests appear over time and need to be served by a single server. We give a lower bound of 2.0585 on the competitive ratio, which is the first bound that strictly separates online Dial-a-Ride on the line from online TSP on the line in terms of competitive analysis, and is the best currently known lower bound even for general metric spaces. On the other hand, we present an algorithm that improves the best known upper bound from 2.9377 to 2.6662. The analysis of our algorithm is tight

General Bounds for Incremental Maximization

We propose a theoretical framework to capture incremental solutions to cardinality constrained maximization problems. The defining characteristic of our framework is that the cardinality/support of the solution is bounded by a value $k\in\mathbb{N}$ that grows over time, and we allow the solution to be extended one element at a time. We investigate the best-possible competitive ratio of such an incremental solution, i.e., the worst ratio over all $k$ between the incremental solution after $k$ steps and an optimum solution of cardinality $k$. We define a large class of problems that contains many important cardinality constrained maximization problems like maximum matching, knapsack, and packing/covering problems. We provide a general $2.618$-competitive incremental algorithm for this class of problems, and show that no algorithm can have competitive ratio below $2.18$ in general. In the second part of the paper, we focus on the inherently incremental greedy algorithm that increases the objective value as much as possible in each step. This algorithm is known to be $1.58$-competitive for submodular objective functions, but it has unbounded competitive ratio for the class of incremental problems mentioned above. We define a relaxed submodularity condition for the objective function, capturing problems like maximum (weighted) ($b$-)matching and a variant of the maximum flow problem. We show that the greedy algorithm has competitive ratio (exactly) $2.313$ for the class of problems that satisfy this relaxed submodularity condition. Note that our upper bounds on the competitive ratios translate to approximation ratios for the underlying cardinality constrained problems.Comment: fixed typo

Packing a Knapsack of Unknown Capacity

We study the problem of packing a knapsack without knowing its capacity. Whenever we attempt to pack an item that does not fit, the item is discarded; if the item fits, we have to include it in the packing. We show that there is always a policy that packs a value within factor 2 of the optimum packing, irrespective of the actual capacity. If all items have unit density, we achieve a factor equal to the golden ratio. Both factors are shown to be best possible. In fact, we obtain the above factors using packing policies that are universal in the sense that they fix a particular order of the items and try to pack the items in this order, independent of the observations made while packing. We give efficient algorithms computing these policies. On the other hand, we show that, for any alpha>1, the problem of deciding whether a given universal policy achieves a factor of alpha is coNP-complete. If alpha is part of the input, the same problem is shown to be coNP-complete for items with unit densities. Finally, we show that it is coNP-hard to decide, for given alpha, whether a set of items admits a universal policy with factor alpha, even if all items have unit densities

General Bounds for Incremental Maximization

We propose a theoretical framework to capture incremental solutions to cardinality constrained maximization problems. The defining characteristic of our framework is that the cardinality/support of the solution is bounded by a value k in N that grows over time, and we allow the solution to be extended one element at a time. We investigate the best-possible competitive ratio of such an incremental solution, i.e., the worst ratio over all k between the incremental solution after~$k$ steps and an optimum solution of cardinality k. We define a large class of problems that contains many important cardinality constrained maximization problems like maximum matching, knapsack, and packing/covering problems. We provide a general 2.618-competitive incremental algorithm for this class of problems, and show that no algorithm can have competitive ratio below 2.18 in general. In the second part of the paper, we focus on the inherently incremental greedy algorithm that increases the objective value as much as possible in each step. This algorithm is known to be 1.58-competitive for submodular objective functions, but it has unbounded competitive ratio for the class of incremental problems mentioned above. We define a relaxed submodularity condition for the objective function, capturing problems like maximum (weighted) (b-)matching and a variant of the maximum flow problem. We show that the greedy algorithm has competitive ratio (exactly) 2.313 for the class of problems that satisfy this relaxed submodularity condition. Note that our upper bounds on the competitive ratios translate to approximation ratios for the underlying cardinality constrained problems

Robust and Adaptive Search

Binary search finds a given element in a sorted array with an optimal number of log n queries. However, binary search fails even when the array is only slightly disordered or access to its elements is subject to errors. We study the worst-case query complexity of search algorithms that are robust to imprecise queries and that adapt to perturbations of the order of the elements. We give (almost) tight results for various parameters that quantify query errors and that measure array disorder. In particular, we exhibit settings where query complexities of log n + ck, (1+epsilon) log n + ck, and sqrt(cnk)+o(nk) are best-possible for parameter value k, any epsilon > 0, and constant c

Tight Analysis of the Smartstart Algorithm for Online Dial-a-Ride on the Line

The online Dial-a-Ride problem is a fundamental online problem in a metric space, where transportation requests appear over time and may be served in any order by a single server with unit speed. Restricted to the real line, online Dial-a-Ride captures natural problems like controlling a personal elevator. Tight results in terms of competitive ratios are known for the general setting and for online TSP on the line (where source and target of each request coincide). In contrast, online Dial-a-Ride on the line has resisted tight analysis so far, even though it is a very natural online problem. We conduct a tight competitive analysis of the Smartstart algorithm that gave the best known results for the general, metric case. In particular, our analysis yields a new upper bound of 2.94 for open, non-preemptive online Dial-a-Ride on the line, which improves the previous bound of 3.41 [Krumke\u2700]. The best known lower bound remains 2.04 [SODA\u2717]. We also show that the known upper bound of 2 [STACS\u2700] regarding Smartstart\u27s competitive ratio for closed, non-preemptive online Dial-a-Ride is tight on the line

A unified worst case for classical simplex and policy iteration pivot rules

We construct a family of Markov decision processes for which the policy iteration algorithm needs an exponential number of improving switches with Dantzig's rule, with Bland's rule, and with the Largest Increase pivot rule. This immediately translates to a family of linear programs for which the simplex algorithm needs an exponential number of pivot steps with the same three pivot rules. Our results yield a unified construction that simultaneously reproduces well-known lower bounds for these classical pivot rules, and we are able to infer that any (deterministic or randomized) combination of them cannot avoid an exponential worst-case behavior. Regarding the policy iteration algorithm, pivot rules typically switch multiple edges simultaneously and our lower bound for Dantzig's rule and the Largest Increase rule, which perform only single switches, seem novel. Regarding the simplex algorithm, the individual lower bounds were previously obtained separately via deformed hypercube constructions. In contrast to previous bounds for the simplex algorithm via Markov decision processes, our rigorous analysis is reasonably concise

The Simplex Algorithm is NP-mighty

We propose to classify the power of algorithms by the complexity of the problems that they can be used to solve. Instead of restricting to the problem a particular algorithm was designed to solve explicitly, however, we include problems that, with polynomial overhead, can be solved 'implicitly' during the algorithm's execution. For example, we allow to solve a decision problem by suitably transforming the input, executing the algorithm, and observing whether a specific bit in its internal configuration ever switches during the execution. We show that the Simplex Method, the Network Simplex Method (both with Dantzig's original pivot rule), and the Successive Shortest Path Algorithm are NP-mighty, that is, each of these algorithms can be used to solve any problem in NP. This result casts a more favorable light on these algorithms' exponential worst-case running times. Furthermore, as a consequence of our approach, we obtain several novel hardness results. For example, for a given input to the Simplex Algorithm, deciding whether a given variable ever enters the basis during the algorithm's execution and determining the number of iterations needed are both NP-hard problems. Finally, we close a long-standing open problem in the area of network flows over time by showing that earliest arrival flows are NP-hard to obtain