Partial set cover problem and set multi-cover problem are two generalizations of the set cover problem. In this paper, we consider the partial set multi-cover problem which is a combination of them: given an element set E, a collection of sets ( S 2^E ), a total covering ratio q, each set (S S ) is associated with a cost (c_S ), each element (e E ) is associated with a covering requirement (r_e ), the goal is to find a minimum cost sub-collection ( S ' S ) to fully cover at least q|E| elements, where element e is fully covered if it belongs to at least (r_e ) sets of ( S ' ). Denote by (r_ = r_e:e E ) the maximum covering requirement. We present an ((O (r_ ^2n(1+ ( 1 )+ 1-q q )),1- ) )-bicriteria approximation algorithm, that is, the output of our algorithm has cost (O(r_ ^2 n(1+ ( 1 )+ 1-q q )) ) times of the optimal value while the number of fully covered elements is at least ((1- )q|E| ).
The set cover problem (SC) was one of the first 21 problems proved to be NP-hard in Karp's seminal paper @cite_11 . In fact, Feige @cite_19 proved that it cannot be approximated within factor @math unless @math , where @math is the number of elements. Dinur and Steurer @cite_9 proved the same lower bound under the assumption that @math . Khot and Regev @cite_1 showed that it cannot be approximated within factor @math for any constant @math assuming that unique games conjecture is true, where @math is the maximum number of sets containing a common element. On the other hand, greedy strategy achieves performance ratio @math @cite_13 @cite_4 @cite_22 , where @math is the maximum cardinality of a set and @math is the Harmonic number. And @math -approximation exists by either LP rounding method @cite_7 or local ratio method @cite_25 .
@cite_4 @cite_22 @cite_7 @cite_9 @cite_1 @cite_19 @cite_13 @cite_25 @cite_11
2040924621 2163322487 2088188524 2044471216 2794992319 2143996311 2157054705 1572977974 1975442866
Simple, polynomial-time, heuristic algorithms for finding approximate solutions to various polynomial complete optimization problems are analyzed with respect to their worst case behavior, measured by the ratio of the worst solution value that can be chosen by the algorithm to the optimal value. For certain problems, such as a simple form of the kanpsack problem and an optimization problem based on satisfiability testing, there are algorithms for which this ratio is bounded by a constant, independent of the problem size. For a number of set covering problems, simple algorithms yield worst case ratios which can grow with the log of the problem size. And for the problem of finding the maximum clique in a graph, no algorithm has been found for which the ratio does not grow at least as fast as n^@e, where n is the problem size and @e>0 depends on the algorithm. It is shown that the ratio of optimal integral and fractional covers of a hypergraph does not exceed 1 + log d, where d is the maximum degree. This theorem may replace probabilistic methods in certain circumstances. Several applications are shown. We propose a heuristic that delivers in @math steps a solution for the set covering problem the value of which does not exceed the maximum number of sets covering an element times the optimal value. We propose an analytical framework for studying parallel repetition, a basic product operation for one-round twoplayer games. In this framework, we consider a relaxation of the value of projection games. We show that this relaxation is multiplicative with respect to parallel repetition and that it provides a good approximation to the game value. Based on this relaxation, we prove the following improved parallel repetition bound: For every projection game G with value at most ρ, the k-fold parallel repetition G⊗k has value at most [EQUATION] This statement implies a parallel repetition bound for projection games with low value ρ. Previously, it was not known whether parallel repetition decreases the value of such games. This result allows us to show that approximating set cover to within factor (1 --- e) ln n is NP-hard for every e > 0, strengthening Feige's quasi-NP-hardness and also building on previous work by Moshkovitz and Raz. In this framework, we also show improved bounds for few parallel repetitions of projection games, showing that Raz's counterexample to strong parallel repetition is tight even for a small number of repetitions. Finally, we also give a short proof for the NP-hardness of label cover(1, Δ) for all Δ > 0, starting from the basic PCP theorem. Given a collection F of subsets of S = 1,…, n , setcover is the problem of selecting as few as possiblesubsets from F such that their union covers S, , and maxk-cover is the problem of selecting k subsets from F such that their union has maximum cardinality. Both these problems areNP-hard. We prove that (1 - o (1)) ln n is a threshold below which setcover cannot be approximated efficiently, unless NP has slightlysuperpolynomial time algorithms. This closes the gap (up to low-orderterms) between the ratio of approximation achievable by the greedyalogorithm (which is (1 - o (1)) lnn), and provious results of Lund and Yanakakis, that showed hardness ofapproximation within a ratio of log 2 n 2s0.72 ln n . For max k -cover, we show an approximationthreshold of (1 - 1 e )(up tolow-order terms), under assumption that P≠NP . Let A be a binary matrix of size m × n, let cT be a positive row vector of length n and let e be the column vector, all of whose m components are ones. The set-covering problem is to minimize cTx subject to Ax ≥ e and x binary. We compare the value of the objective function at a feasible solution found by a simple greedy heuristic to the true optimum. It turns out that the ratio between the two grows at most logarithmically in the largest column sum of A. When all the components of cT are the same, our result reduces to a theorem established previously by Johnson and Lovasz. A local-ratio theorem for approximating the weighted vertex cover problem is presented. It consists of reducing the weights of vertices in certain subgraphs and has the effect of local-approximation. Putting together the Nemhauser-Trotter local optimization algorithm and the local-ratio theorem yields several new approximation techniques which improve known results from time complexity, simplicity and performance-ratio point of view. The main approximation algorithm guarantees a ratio of where K is the smallest integer s.t. † This is an improvement over the currently known ratios, especially for a “practical” number of vertices (e.g. for graphs which have less than 2400, 60000, 10 12 vertices the ratio is bounded by 1.75, 1.8, 1.9 respectively). Throughout the 1960s I worked on combinatorial optimization problems including logic circuit design with Paul Roth and assembly line balancing and the traveling salesman problem with Mike Held. These experiences made me aware that seemingly simple discrete optimization problems could hold the seeds of combinatorial explosions. The work of Dantzig, Fulkerson, Hoffman, Edmonds, Lawler and other pioneers on network flows, matching and matroids acquainted me with the elegant and efficient algorithms that were sometimes possible. Jack Edmonds’ papers and a few key discussions with him drew my attention to the crucial distinction between polynomial-time and superpolynomial-time solvability. I was also influenced by Jack’s emphasis on min-max theorems as a tool for fast verification of optimal solutions, which foreshadowed Steve Cook’s definition of the complexity class NP. Another influence was George Dantzig’s suggestion that integer programming could serve as a universal format for combinatorial optimization problems.