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Vertex Cover Approximations: Experiments and Observations

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Experimental and Efficient Algorithms (WEA 2005)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 3503))

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Abstract

The vertex cover problem is a classic NP-complete problem for which the best worst-case approximation ratio is roughly 2. In this paper, we use a collection of simple reductions, each of which guarantees an approximation ratio of \(\frac{3}{2}\), to find approximate vertex covers for a large collection of test graphs from various sources. We explain these reductions and explore the interaction between them. These reductions are extremely fast and even though they, by themselves are not guaranteed to find a vertex cover, we manage to find a 3/2-approximate vertex cover for every single graph in our large collection of test examples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of IEOR, Columbia University, New York, NY

    Eyjolfur Asgeirsson & Cliff Stein

Authors
  1. Eyjolfur Asgeirsson
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  2. Cliff Stein
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CTI and Univ. of Patras, Greece

    Sotiris E. Nikoletseas

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Asgeirsson, E., Stein, C. (2005). Vertex Cover Approximations: Experiments and Observations. In: Nikoletseas, S.E. (eds) Experimental and Efficient Algorithms. WEA 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3503. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11427186_47

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11427186_47

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-25920-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-32078-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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