CS 466/666

Monday September 24

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  1. [Betty Yip] (from lecture 1) In class we saw the factor 2 approximation algorithm for metric TSP that starts by finding a minimum spanning tree. Give an example where the approximation algorithm gives factor 2 -- or at least as close as possible.

  2. [Peter Feiner] (from lecture 1) Prove that for the general TSP (no triangle inequality) if there is a polynomial time algorithm achieving approximation factor k (for any constant k) then P=NP. You may assume that the Hamiltonian cycle problem is NP-complete.

  3. [Michael Bodis] (based on lecture 3 material) Using the potential method, analyze the amortized cost of decrementing a binary counter that initially holds the value $c$.

  4. [Anne Tran] (based on lecture 4 material) Show, by giving an example, that the amortized cost of delete-min in a lazy binomial heap can really be as bad as \Theta( \log n).

  5. [Richard Peng] (lecture 5) To do an amortized analysis of splay trees, we defined D(x) = the number of descendants of node x, r(x) = log D(x), and \Phi(T) = Sum {r(x): x a node}. What is the min and max \Phi of a tree of n nodes?