In Pursuit of the Traveling Salesman : : Mathematics at the Limits of Computation / / William J. Cook.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Cook, William J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2011]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (248 p.) :; 113 color illus. 19 halftones. 19 line illus. 2 tables.

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. He also explores its many important applications, from genome sequencing and designing computer processors to arranging music and hunting for planets.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.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- 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