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Bodo Manthey

Publications and source records attributed to Bodo Manthey.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2012

Smoothed Complexity Theory

Smoothed analysis is a new way of analyzing algorithms introduced by Spielman and Teng (J. ACM, 2004). Classical methods like worst-case or average-case analysis have accompanying complexity classes, like P and AvgP, respectively. While worst-case or average-case analysis give us a means to talk about the running time of a particular algorithm, complexity classes allows us to talk about the inherent difficulty of problems. Smoothed analysis is a hybrid of worst-case and average-case analysis and compensates some of their drawbacks. Despite its success for the analysis of single algorithms and problems, there is no embedding of smoothed analysis into computational complexity theory, which is necessary to classify problems according to their intrinsic difficulty. We propose a framework for smoothed complexity theory, define the relevant classes, and prove some first hardness results (of bounded halting and tiling) and tractability results (binary optimization problems, graph coloring, satisfiability). Furthermore, we discuss extensions and shortcomings of our model and relate it to semi-random models.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2011

On Approximating Multi-Criteria TSP

We present approximation algorithms for almost all variants of the multi-criteria traveling salesman problem (TSP). First, we devise randomized approximation algorithms for multi-criteria maximum traveling salesman problems (Max-TSP). For multi-criteria Max-STSP, where the edge weights have to be symmetric, we devise an algorithm with an approximation ratio of 2/3 - eps. For multi-criteria Max-ATSP, where the edge weights may be asymmetric, we present an algorithm with a ratio of 1/2 - eps. Our algorithms work for any fixed number k of objectives. Furthermore, we present a deterministic algorithm for bi-criteria Max-STSP that achieves an approximation ratio of 7/27. Finally, we present a randomized approximation algorithm for the asymmetric multi-criteria minimum TSP with triangle inequality Min-ATSP. This algorithm achieves a ratio of log n + eps.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2009

k-Means has Polynomial Smoothed Complexity

The k-means method is one of the most widely used clustering algorithms, drawing its popularity from its speed in practice. Recently, however, it was shown to have exponential worst-case running time. In order to close the gap between practical performance and theoretical analysis, the k-means method has been studied in the model of smoothed analysis. But even the smoothed analyses so far are unsatisfactory as the bounds are still super-polynomial in the number n of data points. In this paper, we settle the smoothed running time of the k-means method. We show that the smoothed number of iterations is bounded by a polynomial in n and 1/σ, where σis the standard deviation of the Gaussian perturbations. This means that if an arbitrary input data set is randomly perturbed, then the k-means method will run in expected polynomial time on that input set.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2009

On Smoothed Analysis of Quicksort and Hoare's Find

We provide a smoothed analysis of Hoare's find algorithm and we revisit the smoothed analysis of quicksort. Hoare's find algorithm - often called quickselect - is an easy-to-implement algorithm for finding the k-th smallest element of a sequence. While the worst-case number of comparisons that Hoare's find needs is quadratic, the average-case number is linear. We analyze what happens between these two extremes by providing a smoothed analysis of the algorithm in terms of two different perturbation models: additive noise and partial permutations. Moreover, we provide lower bounds for the smoothed number of comparisons of quicksort and Hoare's find for the median-of-three pivot rule, which usually yields faster algorithms than always selecting the first element: The pivot is the median of the first, middle, and last element of the sequence. We show that median-of-three does not yield a significant improvement over the classic rule: the lower bounds for the classic rule carry over to median-of-three.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2008

Improved Smoothed Analysis of the k-Means Method

The k-means method is a widely used clustering algorithm. One of its distinguished features is its speed in practice. Its worst-case running-time, however, is exponential, leaving a gap between practical and theoretical performance. Arthur and Vassilvitskii (FOCS 2006) aimed at closing this gap, and they proved a bound of $\poly(n^k, σ^{-1})$ on the smoothed running-time of the k-means method, where n is the number of data points and $σ$ is the standard deviation of the Gaussian perturbation. This bound, though better than the worst-case bound, is still much larger than the running-time observed in practice. We improve the smoothed analysis of the k-means method by showing two upper bounds on the expected running-time of k-means. First, we prove that the expected running-time is bounded by a polynomial in $n^{\sqrt k}$ and $σ^{-1}$. Second, we prove an upper bound of $k^{kd} \cdot \poly(n, σ^{-1})$, where d is the dimension of the data space. The polynomial is independent of k and d, and we obtain a polynomial bound for the expected running-time for $k, d \in O(\sqrt{\log n/\log \log n})$. Finally, we show that k-means runs in smoothed polynomial time for one-dimensional instances.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2008

Approximating Multi-Criteria Max-TSP

We present randomized approximation algorithms for multi-criteria Max-TSP. For Max-STSP with k > 1 objective functions, we obtain an approximation ratio of $1/k - \eps$ for arbitrarily small $\eps > 0$. For Max-ATSP with k objective functions, we obtain an approximation ratio of $1/(k+1) - \eps$.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2007

On Approximating Restricted Cycle Covers

A cycle cover of a graph is a set of cycles such that every vertex is part of exactly one cycle. An L-cycle cover is a cycle cover in which the length of every cycle is in the set L. The weight of a cycle cover of an edge-weighted graph is the sum of the weights of its edges. We come close to settling the complexity and approximability of computing L-cycle covers. On the one hand, we show that for almost all L, computing L-cycle covers of maximum weight in directed and undirected graphs is APX-hard and NP-hard. Most of our hardness results hold even if the edge weights are restricted to zero and one. On the other hand, we show that the problem of computing L-cycle covers of maximum weight can be approximated within a factor of 2 for undirected graphs and within a factor of 8/3 in the case of directed graphs. This holds for arbitrary sets L.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2007

Approximation Algorithms for Multi-Criteria Traveling Salesman Problems

In multi-criteria optimization problems, several objective functions have to be optimized. Since the different objective functions are usually in conflict with each other, one cannot consider only one particular solution as the optimal solution. Instead, the aim is to compute a so-called Pareto curve of solutions. Since Pareto curves cannot be computed efficiently in general, we have to be content with approximations to them. We design a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm for multi-criteria g-metric STSP that computes (min{1 +g, 2g^2/(2g^2 -2g +1)} + eps)-approximate Pareto curves for all 1/2<=g<=1. In particular, we obtain a (2+eps)-approximation for multi-criteria metric STSP. We also present two randomized approximation algorithms for multi-criteria g-metric STSP that achieve approximation ratios of (2g^3 +2g^2)/(3g^2 -2g +1) + eps and (1 +g)/(1 +3g -4g^2) + eps, respectively. Moreover, we present randomized approximation algorithms for multi-criteria g-metric ATSP (ratio 1/2 + g^3/(1 -3g^2) + eps) for g < 1/sqrt(3)), STSP with weights 1 and 2 (ratio 4/3) and ATSP with weights 1 and 2 (ratio 3/2). To do this, we design randomized approximation schemes for multi-criteria cycle cover and graph factor problems.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2007

Minimum-weight Cycle Covers and Their Approximability

A cycle cover of a graph is a set of cycles such that every vertex is part of exactly one cycle. An L-cycle cover is a cycle cover in which the length of every cycle is in the set L. We investigate how well L-cycle covers of minimum weight can be approximated. For undirected graphs, we devise a polynomial-time approximation algorithm that achieves a constant approximation ratio for all sets L. On the other hand, we prove that the problem cannot be approximated within a factor of 2-eps for certain sets L. For directed graphs, we present a polynomial-time approximation algorithm that achieves an approximation ratio of O(n), where $n$ is the number of vertices. This is asymptotically optimal: We show that the problem cannot be approximated within a factor of o(n). To contrast the results for cycle covers of minimum weight, we show that the problem of computing L-cycle covers of maximum weight can, at least in principle, be approximated arbitrarily well.

cs.DS↗
arXiv2006

Approximation Algorithms for Restricted Cycle Covers Based on Cycle Decompositions

A cycle cover of a graph is a set of cycles such that every vertex is part of exactly one cycle. An L-cycle cover is a cycle cover in which the length of every cycle is in the set L. The weight of a cycle cover of an edge-weighted graph is the sum of the weights of its edges. We come close to settling the complexity and approximability of computing L-cycle covers. On the one hand, we show that for almost all L, computing L-cycle covers of maximum weight in directed and undirected graphs is APX-hard and NP-hard. Most of our hardness results hold even if the edge weights are restricted to zero and one. On the other hand, we show that the problem of computing L-cycle covers of maximum weight can be approximated within a factor of 2 for undirected graphs and within a factor of 8/3 in the case of directed graphs. This holds for arbitrary sets L.

cs.DS↗