English

Generalized Traveling Salesman Problem Reduction Algorithms

Data Structures and Algorithms 2010-03-30 v2

Abstract

The generalized traveling salesman problem (GTSP) is an extension of the well-known traveling salesman problem. In GTSP, we are given a partition of cities into groups and we are required to find a minimum length tour that includes exactly one city from each group. The aim of this paper is to present a problem reduction algorithm that deletes redundant vertices and edges, preserving the optimal solution. The algorithm's running time is O(N^3) in the worst case, but it is significantly faster in practice. The algorithm has reduced the problem size by 15-20% on average in our experiments and this has decreased the solution time by 10-60% for each of the considered solvers.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0804.0735,
  title  = {Generalized Traveling Salesman Problem Reduction Algorithms},
  author = {Gregory Gutin and Daniel Karapetyan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.0735},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

To appear in Algorithmic Operations Research

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:27:45.669Z