Lectures on Proof Verification and Approximation Algorithms

Download or read book Lectures on Proof Verification and Approximation Algorithms written by Ernst W. Mayr and published by Springer. This book was released on 2006-06-08 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the last few years, we have seen quite spectacular progress in the area of approximation algorithms: for several fundamental optimization problems we now actually know matching upper and lower bounds for their approximability. This textbook-like tutorial is a coherent and essentially self-contained presentation of the enormous recent progress facilitated by the interplay between the theory of probabilistically checkable proofs and aproximation algorithms. The basic concepts, methods, and results are presented in a unified way to provide a smooth introduction for newcomers. These lectures are particularly useful for advanced courses or reading groups on the topic.