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Partial constraint satisfaction

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Over-Constrained Systems (OCS 1995)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1106))

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Abstract

A constraint satisfaction problem involves finding values for variables subject to constraints on which combinations of values are allowed. In some cases it may be impossible or impractical to solve these problems completely. We may seek to partially solve the problem, in particular by satisfying a maximal number of constraints. Standard backtracking and local consistency techniques for solving constraint satisfaction problems can be adapted to cope with, and take advantage of, the differences between partial and complete constraint satisfaction. Extensive experimentation on maximal satisfaction problems illuminates the relative and absolute effectiveness of these methods. A general model of partial constraint satisfaction is proposed.

This paper is reprinted (with minor changes) from Artificial Intelligence, volume 58, numbers 1–3, E. C. Freuder and R. J. Wallace, Partial constraint satisfaction, pages 21–70, 1992 with kind permission from Elsevier Science — NL, Sara Burgerhartstraat 25, 1055 KV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (This volume was a special issue that was reprinted as an MIT Press book, Constraint-Based Reasoning).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Department, University of New Hampshire, Kingsbury Hall, 03824, Durham, NH, USA

    Eugene C. Freuder & Richard J. Wallace

Authors
  1. Eugene C. Freuder
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  2. Richard J. Wallace
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Michael Jampel Eugene Freuder Michael Maher

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Freuder, E.C., Wallace, R.J. (1996). Partial constraint satisfaction. In: Jampel, M., Freuder, E., Maher, M. (eds) Over-Constrained Systems. OCS 1995. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1106. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61479-6_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61479-6_18

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-61479-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68601-9

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