A historical note on the 3/2-approximation algorithm for the metric traveling salesman problem
Data Structures and Algorithms
2020-11-19 v2 Discrete Mathematics
History and Overview
Optimization and Control
Abstract
One of the most fundamental results in combinatorial optimization is the polynomial-time 3/2-approximation algorithm for the metric traveling salesman problem. It was presented by Christofides in 1976 and is well known as "the Christofides algorithm". Recently, some authors started calling it "Christofides-Serdyukov algorithm", pointing out that it was published independently in the USSR in 1978. We provide some historic background on Serdyukov's findings and a translation of his article from Russian into English.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2004.02437,
title = {A historical note on the 3/2-approximation algorithm for the metric traveling salesman problem},
author = {René van Bevern and Viktoriia A. Slugina},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.02437},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
Version accepted to Historia Mathematica