Algorithmics for Hard Problems

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XI

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Juraj Hromkovič

   Pages 1-9

3. Elementary Fundamentals

   • Juraj Hromkovič

   Pages 11-142

4. Deterministic Approaches

   • Juraj Hromkovič

   Pages 143-212

5. Approximation Algorithms

   • Juraj Hromkovič

   Pages 213-305

6. Randomized Algorithms

   • Juraj Hromkovič

   Pages 307-385

7. Heuristics

   • Juraj Hromkovič

   Pages 387-415

8. A Guide to Solving Hard Problems

   • Juraj Hromkovič

   Pages 417-457

9. Back Matter

   Pages 459-494

   PDF

Algorithmic design, especially for hard problems, is more essential for success in solving them than any standard improvement of current computer technologies. Because of this, the design of algorithms for solving hard problems is the core of current algorithmic research from the theoretical point of view as weIl as from the practical point of view. There are many general textbooks on algorithmics, and several specialized books devoted to particular approaches such as local search, randomization, approximation algorithms, or heuristics. But there is no textbook that focuses on the design of algorithms for hard computing tasks, and that systematically explains, combines, and compares the main possibilities for attacking hard algorithmic problems. As this topic is fundamental for computer science, this book tries to elose this gap. Another motivation, and probably the main reason for writing this book, is connected to education. The considered area has developed very dynamically in recent years and the research on this topic discovered several profound re­ sults, new concepts, and new methods. Some of the achieved contributions are so fundamental that one can speak about paradigms which should be ineluded in the education of every computer science student. Unfortunately, this is very far from reality. This is because these paradigms are not sufficiently known in the computer science community, and so they are insufficiently communicated to students and practitioners.

• Approximation
• Heuristics
• Randomized and Approximation Algorithms
• complexity
• complexity theory
• kernel
• algorithm analysis and problem complexity
• combinatorics

• Computer Science I, Algorithms and Complexity, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

  Juraj Hromkovič

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