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Chapter: Introduction to the Design and Analysis of Algorithms : Coping with the Limitations of Algorithm Power

Coping with the Limitations of Algorithm Power

As we saw in the previous chapter, there are problems that are difficult to solve algorithmically. At the same time, some of them are so important that we cannot just sigh in resignation and do nothing. This chapter outlines several ways of dealing with such difficult problems.

Chapter12

Coping with the Limitations of Algorithm Power

 

 

 

 

Keep on the lookout for novel ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you’re working on.

 

—Thomas Edison (1847–1931)

 

 

As we saw in the previous chapter, there are problems that are difficult to solve algorithmically. At the same time, some of them are so important that we cannot just sigh in resignation and do nothing. This chapter outlines several ways of dealing with such difficult problems.

 

Sections 12.1 and 12.2 introduce two algorithm design techniques—back-tracking and branch-and-bound—that often make it possible to solve at least some large instances of difficult combinatorial problems. Both strategies can be considered an improvement over exhaustive search, discussed in Section 3.4. Unlike exhaustive search, they construct candidate solutions one component at a time and evaluate the partially constructed solutions: if no potential values of the remaining components can lead to a solution, the remaining components are not generated at all. This approach makes it possible to solve some large instances of difficult combinatorial problems, though, in the worst case, we still face the same curse of exponential explosion encountered in exhaustive search.

 

Both backtracking and branch-and-bound are based on the construction of a state-space tree whose nodes reflect specific choices made for a solution’s compo-nents. Both techniques terminate a node as soon as it can be guaranteed that no solution to the problem can be obtained by considering choices that correspond to the node’s descendants. The techniques differ in the nature of problems they can be applied to. Branch-and-bound is applicable only to optimization problems because it is based on computing a bound on possible values of the problem’s objective function. Backtracking is not constrained by this demand, but more often than not, it applies to nonoptimization problems. The other distinction be-tween backtracking and branch-and-bound lies in the order in which nodes of the state-space tree are generated. For backtracking, this tree is usually developed depth-first (i.e., similar to DFS). Branch-and-bound can generate nodes accord-ing to several rules: the most natural one is the so-called best-first rule explained in Section 12.2.

 

Section 12.3 takes a break from the idea of solving a problem exactly. The algorithms presented there solve problems approximately but fast. Specifically, we consider a few approximation algorithms for the traveling salesman and knap-sack problems. For the traveling salesman problem, we discuss basic theoretical results and pertinent empirical data for several well-known approximation algo-rithms. For the knapsack problem, we first introduce a greedy algorithm and then a parametric family of polynomial-time algorithms that yield arbitrarily good ap-proximations.

 

Section 12.4 is devoted to algorithms for solving nonlinear equations. After a brief discussion of this very important problem, we examine three classic methods for approximate root finding: the bisection method, the method of false position, and Newton’s method.


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