Abstract
We describe a very simple idea for designing approximation algorithms for connectivity problems: For a spanning tree problem, the idea is to start with the empty set of edges, and add matching paths between pairs of components in the current graph that have desirable properties in terms of the objective function of the spanning tree problem being solved. Such matching augment the solution by reducing the number of connected components to roughly half their original number, resulting in a logarithmic number of such matching iterations. A logarithmic performance ratio results for the problem by appropriately bounding the contribution of each matching to the objective function by that of an optimal solution.
In this survey, we trace the initial application of these ideas to traveling salesperson problems through a simple tree pairing observation down to more sophisticated applications for buy-at-bulk type network design problems.
Supported in part by NSF grant CCF-0430751 and ITR grant CCR-0122581 (The ALADDIN project).
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Ravi, R. (2006). Matching Based Augmentations for Approximating Connectivity Problems. In: Correa, J.R., Hevia, A., Kiwi, M. (eds) LATIN 2006: Theoretical Informatics. LATIN 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3887. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11682462_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11682462_4
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