Inapproximability
In computer science, hardness of approximation is a field that studies the Computational complexity theory, algorithmic complexity of finding near-optimal solutions to optimization problems. Scope Hardness of approximation complements the study of approximation algorithms by proving, for certain problems, a limit on the factors with which their solution can be efficiently approximated. Typically such limits show a factor of approximation beyond which a problem becomes NP-hard, implying that finding a polynomial time approximation for the problem is impossible unless NP=P. Some hardness of approximation results, however, are based on other hypotheses, a notable one among which is the unique games conjecture. History Since the early 1970s it was known that many optimization problems could not be solved in polynomial time unless P = NP, but in many of these problems the optimal solution could be efficiently approximated to a certain degree. In the 1970s, Teofilo F. Gonzalez and Sartaj ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Set Cover
The set cover problem is a classical question in combinatorics, computer science, operations research, and Computational complexity theory, complexity theory. Given a Set (mathematics), set of elements (henceforth referred to as the Universe (mathematics), universe, specifying all possible elements under consideration) and a collection, referred to as , of a given subsets whose union (set theory), union equals the universe, the set cover problem is to identify a smallest sub-collection of whose union equals the universe. For example, consider the universe, and the collection of sets In this example, is equal to 4, as there are four subsets that comprise this collection. The union of is equal to . However, we can cover all elements with only two sets: , see picture, but not with only one set. Therefore, the solution to the set cover problem for this and has size 2. More formally, given a universe \mathcal and a family \mathcal of subsets of \mathcal, a set cover is a s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Unique Games Conjecture
In computational complexity theory, the unique games conjecture (often referred to as UGC) is a conjecture made by Subhash Khot in 2002. The conjecture postulates that the problem of determining the approximate ''value'' of a certain type of game, known as a ''unique game'', has NP-hard computational complexity. It has broad applications in the theory of hardness of approximation. If the unique games conjecture is true and P ≠ NP,The unique games conjecture is vacuously true if P = NP, as then every problem in NP would also be NP-hard. then for many important problems it is not only impossible to get an exact solution in polynomial time (as postulated by the P versus NP problem), but also impossible to get a good polynomial-time approximation. The problems for which such an inapproximability result would hold include constraint satisfaction problems, which crop up in a wide variety of disciplines. The conjecture is unusual in that the academic world ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Approximation Algorithms
In computer science and operations research, approximation algorithms are efficient algorithms that find approximate solutions to optimization problems (in particular NP-hard problems) with provable guarantees on the distance of the returned solution to the optimal one. Approximation algorithms naturally arise in the field of theoretical computer science as a consequence of the widely believed P ≠ NP conjecture. Under this conjecture, a wide class of optimization problems cannot be solved exactly in polynomial time. The field of approximation algorithms, therefore, tries to understand how closely it is possible to approximate optimal solutions to such problems in polynomial time. In an overwhelming majority of the cases, the guarantee of such algorithms is a multiplicative one expressed as an approximation ratio or approximation factor i.e., the optimal solution is always guaranteed to be within a (predetermined) multiplicative factor of the returned solution. However, there a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ryan O'Donnell (computer Scientist)
Ryan O'Donnell is a Canadian theoretical computer scientist and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is known for his work on the analysis of Boolean functions and for authoring the textbook on this subject. He is also known for his work on computational learning theory, hardness of approximation, property testing, quantum computation and quantum information. O'Donnell attended the Gifted Program at O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Oshawa, Ontario and then went on to complete his B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Toronto. He then completed his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003, advised by Madhu Sudan. Research O'Donnell proved that the Goemans–Williamson approximation algorithm for MAX-CUT is optimal, assuming the unique games conjecture. The proof follows from two papers, one in 2004 with Subhash Khot, Guy Kindler, and Elchanan Mossel which reduced this statement to proving the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Approximation Algorithm
In computer science and operations research, approximation algorithms are efficient algorithms that find approximate solutions to optimization problems (in particular NP-hard problems) with provable guarantees on the distance of the returned solution to the optimal one. Approximation algorithms naturally arise in the field of theoretical computer science as a consequence of the widely believed P ≠ NP conjecture. Under this conjecture, a wide class of optimization problems cannot be solved exactly in polynomial time. The field of approximation algorithms, therefore, tries to understand how closely it is possible to approximate optimal solutions to such problems in polynomial time. In an overwhelming majority of the cases, the guarantee of such algorithms is a multiplicative one expressed as an approximation ratio or approximation factor i.e., the optimal solution is always guaranteed to be within a (predetermined) multiplicative factor of the returned solution. However, there a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Venkatesan Guruswami
Venkatesan Guruswami (born 1976) is a senior scientist at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing and Professor of EECS and Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He did his high schooling at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan in Chennai, India. He completed his undergraduate in Computer Science from IIT Madras and his doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the supervision of Madhu Sudan in 2001. After receiving his PhD, he spent a year at UC Berkeley as a Miller Fellow, and then was a member of the faculty at the University of Washington from 2002 to 2009. His primary area of research is computer science, and in particular on error-correcting codes. During 2007–2008, he visited the Institute for Advanced Study as a Member of School of Mathematics. He also visited SCS at Carnegie Mellon University during 2008–09 as a visiting faculty. From July 2009 through December 2020 he was a faculty member in the Computer Science Department in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the United States. The university has a main campus located in the city's University District. It also has satellite campuses in nearby cities of Tacoma and Bothell. Overall, UW encompasses more than 500 buildings and over 20 million gross square footage of space, including one of the largest library systems in the world with more than 26 university libraries, art centers, museums, laboratories, lecture halls, and stadiums. Washington is the flagship institution of the six public universities in Washington State. It is known for its medical, engineering, and scientific research. Washington is a member of the Association of American Universities. According to the National Science Foundation, UW spent $1.73 billion on research and develo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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PCP Theorem
In computational complexity theory, the PCP theorem (also known as the PCP characterization theorem) states that every decision problem in the NP complexity class has probabilistically checkable proofs ( proofs that can be checked by a randomized algorithm) of constant query complexity and logarithmic randomness complexity (uses a logarithmic number of random bits). The PCP theorem says that for some universal constant K, for every n, any mathematical proof for a statement of length n can be rewritten as a different proof of length \operatorname(n) that is formally verifiable with 99% accuracy by a randomized algorithm that inspects only K letters of that proof. The PCP theorem is the cornerstone of the theory of computational hardness of approximation, which investigates the inherent difficulty in designing efficient approximation algorithms for various optimization problems. It has been described by Ingo Wegener as "the most important result in complexity theory since C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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PCP (complexity)
In computational complexity theory, a probabilistically checkable proof (PCP) is a type of proof that can be checked by a randomized algorithm using a bounded amount of randomness and reading a bounded number of bits of the proof. The algorithm is then required to accept correct proofs and reject incorrect proofs with very high probability. A standard proof (or certificate), as used in the verifier-based definition of the complexity class NP, also satisfies these requirements, since the checking procedure deterministically reads the whole proof, always accepts correct proofs and rejects incorrect proofs. However, what makes them interesting is the existence of probabilistically checkable proofs that can be checked by reading only a few bits of the proof using randomness in an essential way. Probabilistically checkable proofs give rise to many complexity classes depending on the number of queries required and the amount of randomness used. The class refers to the set of decisi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Journal Of The ACM
The ''Journal of the ACM'' (''JACM'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering computer science in general, especially theoretical aspects. It is an official journal of the Association for Computing Machinery. Its current editor-in-chief is Venkatesan Guruswami. The journal was established in 1954 and "computer scientists universally hold the ''Journal of the ACM'' in high esteem". See also * ''Communications of the ACM ''Communications of the ACM'' (''CACM'') is the monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). History It was established in 1958, with Saul Rosen as its first managing editor. It is sent to all ACM members. Articles are i ...'' References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Journal Of The Acm Academic journals established in 1954 Computer science journals Association for Computing Machinery academic journals Bimonthly journals English-language journals ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Computer Science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, applied disciplines (including the design and implementation of Computer architecture, hardware and Software engineering, software). Algorithms and data structures are central to computer science. The theory of computation concerns abstract models of computation and general classes of computational problem, problems that can be solved using them. The fields of cryptography and computer security involve studying the means for secure communication and preventing security vulnerabilities. Computer graphics (computer science), Computer graphics and computational geometry address the generation of images. Programming language theory considers different ways to describe computational processes, and database theory concerns the management of re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |