In pursuit of the traveling salesman : mathematics at the limits of computation / William J. Cook.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cook, William, 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Traveling salesman problem.

Computational complexity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (245 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"What is the shortest possible route for a traveling salesman seeking to visit each city on a list exactly once and return to his city of origin? It sounds simple enough, yet the traveling salesman problem is one of the most intensely studied puzzles in applied mathematics--and it has defied solution to this day. In this book, William Cook takes readers on a mathematical excursion, picking up the salesman's trail in the 1800s when Irish mathematician W. R. Hamilton first defined the problem, and venturing to the furthest limits of today's state-of-the-art attempts to solve it. Cook examines the origins and history of the salesman problem and explores its many important applications, from genome sequencing and designing computer processors to arranging music and hunting for planets. He looks at how computers stack up against the traveling salesman problem on a grand scale, and discusses how humans, unaided by computers, go about trying to solve the puzzle. Cook traces the salesman problem to the realms of neuroscience, psychology, and art, and he also challenges readers to tackle the problem themselves. The traveling salesman problem is--literally--a $1 million question. That's the prize the Clay Mathematics Institute is offering to anyone who can solve the problem or prove that it can't be done. In Pursuit of the Traveling Salesman travels to the very threshold of our understanding about the nature of complexity, and challenges you yourself to discover the solution to this captivating mathematical problem"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

1: Challenges

2: Origins of the Problem

3: The Salesman in Action

4: Searching for a Tour

5: Linear Programming

6: Cutting Planes

7: Branching

8: Big Computing

9: Complexity

10: The Human Touch

11: Aesthetics

12: Pushing the Limits

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613339775

9781283339773

1283339773

9781400839599

1400839599

OCLC:

768731903