Efficient approximation of MIN SET COVER by "low-complexity" exponential algorithms

Nicolas Bourgeois (1) , Bruno Escoffier (1) , Vangelis Paschos (1)

1 LAMSADE - Laboratoire d'analyse et modélisation de systèmes pour l'aide à la décision

We study approximation of min set cover combining ideas and results from polynomial approximation and from exact computation (with non-trivial worst case complexity upper bounds) for NP-hard problems. We design approximation algorithms for min set cover achieving ratios that cannot be achieved in polynomial time (unless problems in NP could be solved by slightly super-polynomial algorithms) with worst-case complexity much lower (though super-polynomial) than those of an exact computation.

Domaines: Algorithme et structure de données [cs.DS]; Complexité [cs.CC]; Recherche opérationnelle [math.OC]

Nicolas Bourgeois, Bruno Escoffier, Vangelis Paschos. Efficient approximation of MIN SET COVER by "low-complexity" exponential algorithms. 2008. ⟨hal-00906972⟩