We consider the weighted $k$-set packing problem, in which we are given a collection of weighted sets, each with at most $k$ elements and must return a collection of pairwise disjoint sets with maximum total weight. For $k = 3$, this problem generalizes the classical 3-dimensional matching problem listed as one of the Karp's original 21 NP-complete problems. We give an algorithm attaining an approximation factor of $1.786$ for weighted 3-set packing, improving on the recent best result of $2-\frac{1}{63,700,992}$ due to Neuwohner.
Our algorithm is based on the local search procedure of Berman that attempts to improve the sum of squared weights rather than the problem's objective. When using exchanges of size at most $k$, this algorithm attains an approximation factor of $\frac{k+1}{2}$. Using exchanges of size $k^2(k-1) + k$, we provide a relatively simple analysis to obtain an approximation factor of 1.811 when $k = 3$. We then show that the tools we develop can be adapted to larger exchanges of size $2k^2(k-1) + k$ to give an approximation factor of 1.786. Although our primary focus is on the case $k = 3$, our approach in fact gives slightly stronger improvements on the factor $\frac{k+1}{2}$ for all $k > 3$. As in previous works, our guarantees hold also for the more general problem of finding a maximum weight independent set in a $(k+1)$-claw free graph.
We study the weighted $k$-Set Packing problem: Given a collection $S$ of sets, each of cardinality at most $k$, together with a positive weight function $w:\mathcal{S}\rightarrow\mathbb{Q}_{>0}$, the task is to compute a disjoint sub-collection $A\subseteq \mathcal{S}$ of maximum total weight. For $k\leq 2$, the weighted $k$-Set Packing problem can be solved in polynomial time, but for $k\geq 3$, it becomes $NP$-hard. Recently, Neuwohner has shown how to obtain approximation guarantees of $\frac{k+ε_k}{2}$ with $\lim_{k\rightarrow\infty}ε_k=0$. She further showed her result to be asymptoticall…
In this paper, we study online multidimensional bin packing problem when all items are hypercubes. Based on the techniques in one dimensional bin packing algorithm Super Harmonic by Seiden, we give a framework for online hypercube packing problem and obtain new upper bounds of asymptotic competitive ratios. For square packing, we get an upper bound of 2.1439, which is better than 2.24437. For cube packing, we also give a new upper bound 2.6852 which is better than 2.9421 by Epstein and van Stee.
Packing a given sequence of items into as few bins as possible in an online fashion is a widely studied problem. We improve lower bounds for packing boxes into bins in two or more dimensions, both for general algorithms for squares and rectangles (in two dimensions) and for an important subclass, so-called Harmonic-type algorithms for hypercubes (in two or more dimensions). Lastly, we show that two adaptions of ideas from a one-dimensional packing algorithm to square packing do not help to break the barrier of 2.
We design the first online algorithm with poly-logarithmic competitive ratio for the edge-weighted degree-bounded Steiner forest(EW-DB-SF) problem and its generalized variant. We obtain our result by demonstrating a new generic approach for solving mixed packing/covering integer programs in the online paradigm. In EW-DB-SF we are given an edge-weighted graph with a degree bound for every vertex. Given a root vertex in advance we receive a sequence of terminal vertices in an online manner. Upon the arrival of a terminal we need to augment our solution subgraph to connect the new terminal to the…
We study the well-known two-dimensional strip packing problem. Given is a set of rectangular axis-parallel items and a strip of width $W$ with infinite height. The objective is to find a packing of these items into the strip, which minimizes the packing height. Lately, it has been shown that the lower bound of $3/2$ of the absolute approximation ratio can be beaten when we allow a pseudo-polynomial running-time of type $(n W)^{f(1/\varepsilon)}$. If $W$ is polynomially bounded by the number of items, this is a polynomial running-time. We present a pseudo-polynomial algorithm with approximation…
This paper gives poly-logarithmic-round, distributed D-approximation algorithms for covering problems with submodular cost and monotone covering constraints (Submodular-cost Covering). The approximation ratio D is the maximum number of variables in any constraint. Special cases include Covering Mixed Integer Linear Programs (CMIP), and Weighted Vertex Cover (with D=2). Via duality, the paper also gives poly-logarithmic-round, distributed D-approximation algorithms for Fractional Packing linear programs (where D is the maximum number of constraints in which any variable occurs), and for Max Wei…
A cut sparsifier is a reweighted subgraph that maintains the weights of the cuts of the original graph up to a multiplicative factor of $(1\pmε)$. This paper considers computing cut sparsifiers of weighted graphs of size $O(n\log (n)/ε^2)$. Our algorithm computes such a sparsifier in time $O(m\cdot\min(α(n)\log(m/n),\log (n)))$, both for graphs with polynomially bounded and unbounded integer weights, where $α(\cdot)$ is the functional inverse of Ackermann's function. This improves upon the state of the art by Benczúr and Karger (SICOMP 2015), which takes $O(m\log^2 (n))$ time. For unbounded we…
We present three deterministic parameterized algorithms for well-studied packing and matching problems, namely, Weighted q-Dimensional p-Matching ((q,p)-WDM) and Weighted q-Set p-Packing ((q,p)-WSP). More specifically, we present an O*(2.85043^{(q-1)p}) time deterministic algorithm for (q,p)-WDM, an O*(8.04143^p) time deterministic algorithm for the unweighted version of (3,p)-WDM, and an O*((0.56201\cdot 2.85043^q)^p) time deterministic algorithm for (q,p)-WSP. Our algorithms significantly improve the previously best known O* running times in solving (q,p)-WDM and (q,p)-WSP, and the previousl…
Improved Upper Bounds for Dynamic Bin Packing of General, Unit-Fraction, and Power-Fraction Squares
Institute of Computing, University of Campinas（坎皮纳斯大学计算研究所）；Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, University of São Paulo（圣保罗大学数学、统计和计算机科学研究所）
In this paper we propose an improved approximation scheme for the Vector Bin Packing problem (VBP), based on the combination of (near-)optimal solution of the Linear Programming (LP) relaxation and a greedy (modified first-fit) heuristic. The Vector Bin Packing problem of higher dimension (d \geq 2) is not known to have asymptotic polynomial-time approximation schemes (unless P = NP). Our algorithm improves over the previously-known guarantee of (ln d + 1 + epsilon) by Bansal et al. [1] for higher dimensions (d > 2). We provide a θ(1) approximation scheme for certain set of inputs for any dime…
Motivated by recent progress on stochastic matching with few queries, we embark on a systematic study of the sparsification of stochastic packing problems (SPP) more generally. Specifically, we consider SPPs where elements are independently active with a probability p, and ask whether one can (non-adaptively) compute a sparse set of elements guaranteed to contain an approximately optimal solution to the realized (active) subproblem. We seek structural and algorithmic results of broad applicability to such problems. Our focus is on computing sparse sets containing on the order of d feasible sol…
We study the strip packing problem, a classical packing problem which generalizes both bin packing and makespan minimization. Here we are given a set of axis-parallel rectangles in the two-dimensional plane and the goal is to pack them in a vertical strip of a fixed width such that the height of the obtained packing is minimized. The packing must be non-overlapping and the rectangles cannot be rotated. A reduction from the partition problem shows that no approximation better than 3/2 is possible for strip packing in polynomial time (assuming P$\neq$NP). Nadiradze and Wiese [SODA16] overcame th…
One of the most natural optimization problems is the k-Set Packing problem, where given a family of sets of size at most k one should select a maximum size subfamily of pairwise disjoint sets. A special case of 3-Set Packing is the well known 3-Dimensional Matching problem. Both problems belong to the Karp`s list of 21 NP-complete problems. The best known polynomial time approximation ratio for k-Set Packing is (k + eps)/2 and goes back to the work of Hurkens and Schrijver [SIDMA`89], which gives (1.5 + eps)-approximation for 3-Dimensional Matching. Those results are obtained by a simple local…
We solve the Bin Packing problem in $O^*(2^k)$ time, where $k$ is the number of items less or equal to one third of the bin capacity. This parameter measures the distance from the polynomially solvable case of only large (i.e., greater than one third) items. Our algorithm is actually designed to work for a more general Vector Bin Packing problem, in which items are multidimensional vectors. We improve over the previous fastest $O^*(k! \cdot 4^k)$ time algorithm. Our algorithm works by reducing the problem to finding an exact weight perfect matching in a (multi-)graph with $O^*(2^k)$ edges, who…
This paper introduces and approximately solves a multi-component problem where small rectangular items are produced from large rectangular bins via guillotine cuts. An item is characterized by its width, height, due date, and earliness and tardiness penalties per unit time. Each item induces a cost that is proportional to its earliness and tardiness. Items cut from the same bin form a batch, whose processing and completion times depend on its assigned items. The items of a batch have the completion time of their bin. The objective is to find a cutting plan that minimizes the weighted sum of ea…
In the \textsc{2-Dimensional Knapsack} problem (2DK) we are given a square knapsack and a collection of $n$ rectangular items with integer sizes and profits. Our goal is to find the most profitable subset of items that can be packed non-overlappingly into the knapsack. The currently best known polynomial-time approximation factor for 2DK is $17/9+\varepsilon<1.89$ and there is a $(3/2+\varepsilon)$-approximation algorithm if we are allowed to rotate items by 90 degrees~{[}Gálvez et al., FOCS 2017{]}. In this paper, we give $(4/3+\varepsilon)$-approximation algorithms in polynomial time for bot…
We consider the Maximum Weight Independent Set Problem (MWIS) in $d$-claw free graphs, i.e. the task of computing an independent set of maximum weight in a given $d$-claw free graph $G=(V,E)$ equipped with a positive weight function $w:V\rightarrow\mathbb{R}_{>0}$. For $k\geq 1$, the MWIS in $k+1$-claw free graphs generalizes the weighted $k$-Set Packing Problem. Given that for $k\geq 3$, this problem does not permit a polynomial time $o(\frac{k}{\log k})$-approximation unless $P=NP$, most previous algorithms for both weighted $k$-Set Packing and the MWIS in $d$-claw free graphs rely on local …
We study the Partial Degree Bounded Edge Packing (PDBEP) problem introduced in [5] by Zhang. They have shown that this problem is NP-Hard even for uniform degree constraint. They also presented approximation algorithms for the case when all the vertices have degree constraint of 1 and 2 with approximation ratio of 2 and 32=11 respectively. In this work we study general degree constraint case (arbitrary degree constraint for each vertex) and present two combinatorial approximation algorithms with approximation factors 4 and 2. We also study integer program based solution and present an iterativ…
The paper describes a simple deterministic parallel/distributed (2+epsilon)-approximation algorithm for the minimum-weight vertex-cover problem and its dual (edge/element packing).
The 2D Online Bin Packing is a fundamental problem in Computer Science and the determination of its asymptotic competitive ratio has attracted great research attention. In a long series of papers, the lower bound of this ratio has been improved from 1.808, 1.856 to 1.907 and its upper bound reduced from 3.25, 3.0625, 2.8596, 2.7834 to 2.66013. In this paper, we rewrite the upper bound record to 2.5545. Our idea for the improvement is as follows. In SODA 2002 \cite{SS03}, Seiden and van Stee proposed an elegant algorithm called $H \otimes B$, comprised of the {\em Harmonic algorithm} $H$ and th…
We describe a novel algorithm for rounding packing integer programs based on multidimensional Brownian motion in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Starting from an optimal fractional feasible solution $\bar{x}$, the procedure converges in polynomial time to a distribution over (possibly infeasible) point set $P \subset {\{0,1 \}}^n$ such that the expected value of any linear objective function over $P$ equals the value at $\bar{x}$. This is an alternate approach to the classical randomized rounding method of Raghavan and Thompson \cite{RT:87}. Our procedure is very general and in conjunction with discrepancy ba…
We present an improved $(ε, δ)$-jointly differentially private algorithm for packing problems. Our algorithm gives a feasible output that is approximately optimal up to an $αn$ additive factor as long as the supply of each resource is at least $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{m} / αε)$, where $m$ is the number of resources. This improves the previous result by Hsu et al.~(SODA '16), which requires the total supply to be at least $\tilde{O}(m^2 / αε)$, and only guarantees approximate feasibility in terms of total violation. Further, we complement our algorithm with an almost matching hardness result, showing t…
We consider the online vector bin packing problem where $n$ items specified by $d$-dimensional vectors must be packed in the fewest number of identical $d$-dimensional bins. Azar et al. (STOC'13) showed that for any online algorithm $A$, there exist instances I, such that $A(I)$, the number of bins used by $A$ to pack $I$, is $Ω(d/\log^2 d)$ times $OPT(I)$, the minimal number of bins to pack $I$. However in those instances, $OPT(I)$ was only $O(\log d)$, which left open the possibility of improved algorithms with better asymptotic competitive ratio when $OPT(I) \gg d$. We rule this out by show…
In this paper we develop general LP and ILP techniques to find an approximate solution with improved objective value close to an existing solution. The task of improving an approximate solution is closely related to a classical theorem of Cook et al. in the sensitivity analysis for LPs and ILPs. This result is often applied in designing robust algorithms for online problems. We apply our new techniques to the online bin packing problem, where it is allowed to reassign a certain number of items, measured by the migration factor. The migration factor is defined by the total size of reassigned it…
We consider two well-known natural variants of bin packing, and show that these packing problems admit asymptotic fully polynomial time approximation schemes (AFPTAS). In bin packing problems, a set of one-dimensional items of size at most 1 is to be assigned (packed) to subsets of sum at most 1 (bins). It has been known for a while that the most basic problem admits an AFPTAS. In this paper, we develop methods that allow to extend this result to other variants of bin packing. Specifically, the problems which we study in this paper, for which we design asymptotic fully polynomial time approxim…
We study algorithms based on local improvements for the $k$-Set Packing problem. The well-known local improvement algorithm by Hurkens and Schrijver has been improved by Sviridenko and Ward from $\frac{k}{2}+ε$ to $\frac{k+2}{3}$, and by Cygan to $\frac{k+1}{3}+ε$ for any $ε>0$. In this paper, we achieve the approximation ratio $\frac{k+1}{3}+ε$ for the $k$-Set Packing problem using a simple polynomial-time algorithm based on the method by Sviridenko and Ward. With the same approximation guarantee, our algorithm runs in time singly exponential in $\frac{1}{ε^2}$, while the running time of Cyga…
We study the d-dimensional hypercube knapsack problem where we are given a set of d-dimensional hypercubes with associated profits, and a knapsack which is a unit d-dimensional hypercube. The goal is to find an axis-aligned non-overlapping packing of a subset of hypercubes such that the profit of the packed hypercubes is maximized. For this problem, Harren (ICALP'06) gave an algorithm with an approximation ratio of (1+1/2^d+epsilon). For d=2, Jansen and Solis-Oba (IPCO'08) showed that the problem admits a polynomial-time approximation scheme (PTAS); Heydrich and Wiese (SODA'17) further improve…
In this paper we present a fast scalable heuristic for bin packing that partitions the given problem into identical sub-problems of constant size and solves these constant size sub-problems by considering only a constant number of bin configurations with bounded unused space. We present some empirical evidence to support the scalability of our heuristic and its tighter empirical analysis of hard instances due to improved lower bound on the necessary wastage in an optimal solution.
Approximation Algorithms for Perfect Fair-Triangle Packing
Gianforte School of Computing, Montana State University（蒙大拿州立大学 Gianforte 计算机学院）；Division of Information System Design, Tokyo Denki University（东京电机大学信息系统设计系）
In this paper we present the first algorithm with optimal average-case and close-to-best known worst-case performance for the classic on-line problem of bin packing. It has long been observed that known bin packing algorithms with optimal average-case performance were not optimal in the worst-case sense. In particular First Fit and Best Fit had optimal average-case ratio of 1 but a worst-case competitive ratio of 1.7. The wasted space of First Fit and Best Fit for a uniform random sequence of length $n$ is expected to be $Θ(n^{2/3})$ and $Θ(\sqrt{n} \log ^{3/4} n)$, respectively. The competiti…
Over the past two decades, fair resource allocation problems have received considerable attention in a variety of application areas. However, little progress has been made in the design of distributed algorithms with convergence guarantees for general and commonly used $α$-fair allocations. In this paper, we study weighted $α$-fair packing problems, that is, the problems of maximizing the objective functions (i) $\sum_j w_j x_j^{1-α}/(1-α)$ when $α> 0$, $α\neq 1$ and (ii) $\sum_j w_j \ln x_j$ when $α= 1$, over linear constraints $Ax \leq b$, $x\geq 0$, where $w_j$ are positive weights and $A$ …
We consider two optimization problems in planar graphs. In Maximum Weight Independent Set of Objects we are given a graph $G$ and a family $\mathcal{D}$ of objects, each being a connected subgraph of $G$ with a prescribed weight, and the task is to find a maximum-weight subfamily of $\mathcal{D}$ consisting of pairwise disjoint objects. In Minimum Weight Distance Set Cover we are given an edge-weighted graph $G$, two sets $\mathcal{D},\mathcal{C}$ of vertices of $G$, where vertices of $\mathcal{D}$ have prescribed weights, and a nonnegative radius $r$. The task is to find a minimum-weight subs…
We revisit the classic online bin packing problem. In this problem, items of positive sizes no larger than 1 are presented one by one to be packed into subsets called "bins" of total sizes no larger than 1, such that every item is assigned to a bin before the next item is presented. We use online partitioning of items into classes based on sizes, as in previous work, but we also apply a new method where items of one class can be packed into more than two types of bins, where a bin type is defined according to the number of such items grouped together. Additionally, we allow the smallest class …
We give a comprehensive study of bin packing with conflicts (BPC). The input is a set $I$ of items, sizes $s:I \rightarrow [0,1]$, and a conflict graph $G = (I,E)$. The goal is to find a partition of $I$ into a minimum number of independent sets, each of total size at most $1$. Being a generalization of the notoriously hard graph coloring problem, BPC has been studied mostly on polynomially colorable conflict graphs. An intriguing open question is whether BPC on such graphs admits the same best known approximation guarantees as classic bin packing. We answer this question negatively, by showin…
We investigate sparse matrix bipartitioning -- a problem where we minimize the communication volume in parallel sparse matrix-vector multiplication. We prove, by reduction from graph bisection, that this problem is $\mathcal{NP}$-complete in the case where each side of the bipartitioning must contain a linear fraction of the nonzeros. We present an improved exact branch-and-bound algorithm which finds the minimum communication volume for a given matrix and maximum allowed imbalance. The algorithm is based on a maximum-flow bound and a packing bound, which extend previous matching and packing b…
In rectangle packing problems we are given the task of placing axis-aligned rectangles in a given plane region, so that they do not overlap with each other. In Maximum Weight Independent Set of Rectangles (MWISR), their position is given and we can only select which rectangles to choose, while trying to maximize their total weight. In Strip Packing (SP), we have to pack all the given rectangles in a rectangular region of fixed width, while minimizing its height. In 2-Dimensional Geometric Knapsack (2DGK), the target region is a square of a given size, and our goal is to select and pack a subse…
Min-Hash is a popular technique for efficiently estimating the Jaccard similarity of binary sets. Consistent Weighted Sampling (CWS) generalizes the Min-Hash scheme to sketch weighted sets and has drawn increasing interest from the community. Due to its constant-time complexity independent of the values of the weights, Improved CWS (ICWS) is considered as the state-of-the-art CWS algorithm. In this paper, we revisit ICWS and analyze its underlying mechanism to show that there actually exists dependence between the two components of the hash-code produced by ICWS, which violates the condition o…
We study several problems on geometric packing and covering with movement. Given a family $\mathcal{I}$ of $n$ intervals of $κ$ distinct lengths, and another interval $B$, can we pack the intervals in $\mathcal{I}$ inside $B$ (respectively, cover $B$ by the intervals in $\mathcal{I}$) by moving $τ$ intervals and keeping the other $σ= n - τ$ intervals unmoved? We show that both packing and covering are W[1]-hard with any one of $κ$, $τ$, and $σ$ as single parameter, but are FPT with combined parameters $κ$ and $τ$. We also obtain improved polynomial-time algorithms for packing and covering, inc…
Column-sparse packing problems arise in several contexts in both deterministic and stochastic discrete optimization. We present two unifying ideas, (non-uniform) attenuation and multiple-chance algorithms, to obtain improved approximation algorithms for some well-known families of such problems. As three main examples, we attain the integrality gap, up to lower-order terms, for known LP relaxations for k-column sparse packing integer programs (Bansal et al., Theory of Computing, 2012) and stochastic k-set packing (Bansal et al., Algorithmica, 2012), and go "half the remaining distance" to opti…
We discuss one of the most fundamental scheduling problem of processing jobs on a single machine to minimize the weighted flow time (weighted response time). Our main result is a $O(\log P)$-competitive algorithm, where $P$ is the maximum-to-minimum processing time ratio, improving upon the $O(\log^{2}P)$-competitive algorithm of Chekuri, Khanna and Zhu (STOC 2001). We also design a $O(\log D)$-competitive algorithm, where $D$ is the maximum-to-minimum density ratio of jobs. Finally, we show how to combine these results with the result of Bansal and Dhamdhere (SODA 2003) to achieve a $O(\log(\…
In the d-dimensional online bin packing problem, d-dimensional cubes of positive sizes no larger than 1 are presented one by one to be assigned to positions in d-dimensional unit cube bins. In this work, we provide improved upper bounds on the asymptotic competitive ratio for square and cube bin packing problems, where our bounds do not exceed 2.0885 and 2.5735 for square and cube packing, respectively. To achieve these results, we adapt and improve a previously designed harmonic-type algorithm, and apply a different method for defining weight functions. We detect deficiencies in the state-of-…
The problem of packing equal circles in a circle is a classic and famous packing problem, which is well-studied in academia and has a variety of applications in industry. This problem is computationally challenging, and researchers mainly focus on small-scale instances with the number of circular items n less than 320 in the literature. In this work, we aim to solve this problem on large scale. Specifically, we propose a novel geometric batch optimization method that not only can significantly speed up the convergence process of continuous optimization but also reduce the memory requirement du…
