Algorithms Illuminated (part 4): Algorithms For NP Hard Problems

This clearly structured textbook/reference presents a detailed and comprehensive review of the fundamental principles of sequential graph algorithms, approaches for NP-hard graph problems, and approximation algorithms and heuristics for such problems. The work also provides a comparative analysis of sequential, parallel and distributed graph algorithms – including algorithms for big data – and an investigation into the conversion principles between the three algorithmic methods.

The book focuses on the next fields of computer science: combinatorial optimization, scheduling theory, decision theory, and computer-aided production management systems. It also offers a quick introduction into the theory of PSC-algorithms, which are a new class of efficient methods for intractable problems of combinatorial optimization.

Although they are believed to be unsolvable in general, tractability results suggest that some practical NP-hard problems can be efficiently solved. Combinatorial search algorithms are designed to efficiently explore the usually large solution space of these instances by reducing the search space to feasible regions and using heuristics to efficiently explore these regions.