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Intractability: a geometric representation

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Published:12 March 1994Publication History
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Abstract

This paper introduces a geometric representation that can be applied to illustrate the complexity of some combinatorial optimization problems. In this work, it is applied to the 0/1 knapsack problem and to a special case of a scheduling problem. This representation gives insight into the difference between tractable and intractable problems. It can therefore be used as a stepping stone to compare polynomial (P) and nondeterministic polynomial (NP) problems, before venturing into the world of NP-completeness.

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              • Published in

                cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
                ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 26, Issue 1
                March 1994
                410 pages
                ISSN:0097-8418
                DOI:10.1145/191033
                Issue’s Table of Contents
                • cover image ACM Conferences
                  SIGCSE '94: Proceedings of the twenty-fifth SIGCSE symposium on Computer science education
                  March 1994
                  414 pages
                  ISBN:0897916468
                  DOI:10.1145/191029

                Copyright © 1994 ACM

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                Association for Computing Machinery

                New York, NY, United States

                Publication History

                • Published: 12 March 1994

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