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Approximating satisfiable satisfiability problems

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Algorithms — ESA '97 (ESA 1997)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1284))

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Abstract

We study the approximability of the Maximum Satisfiability Problem (MAX SAT) and of the boolean k-ary Constraint Satisfaction Problem (MAX kCSP) restricted to satisfiable instances. For both problems we improve on the performance ratios of known algorithms for the unrestricted case.

Our approximation for satisfiable MAX 3CSP instances is better than any possible approximation for the unrestricted version of the problem (unless P= NP). This result implies that the requirements of perfect completeness and non-adaptiveness weaken the acceptance power of PCP verifiers.

We also present the first non-trivial results about PCP classes defined in terms of free bits that collapse to P.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Universitaire d'Informatique, Université de Genève, Rue Général-Dufour 24, CH-1211, Genève, Switzerland

    Luca Trevisan

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  1. Luca Trevisan
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Rainer Burkard Gerhard Woeginger

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Trevisan, L. (1997). Approximating satisfiable satisfiability problems. In: Burkard, R., Woeginger, G. (eds) Algorithms — ESA '97. ESA 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1284. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63397-9_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63397-9_36

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-63397-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69536-3

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