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Traveling salesperson problem

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Researchers Approach New Speed Limit for Seminal Problem

January 29, 2024

Integer linear programming can help find the answer to a variety of real-world problems. Now researchers have found a much faster way to do it.

What Makes Quantum Computing So Hard to Explain?

June 8, 2021

To understand what quantum computers can do — and what they can’t — avoid falling for overly simple explanations.

Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record

October 8, 2020

After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously difficult traveling salesperson problem.

Mystery Math Whiz and Novelist Advance Permutation Problem

November 5, 2018

A new proof from the Australian science fiction writer Greg Egan and a 2011 proof anonymously posted online are now being hailed as significant advances on a puzzle mathematicians have been studying for at least 25 years.

One-Way Salesman Finds Fast Path Home

October 5, 2017

The real-world version of the famous “traveling salesman problem” finally gets a good-enough solution.

‘Outsiders’ Crack 50-Year-Old Math Problem

November 24, 2015

Three computer scientists have solved a problem central to a dozen far-flung mathematical fields.

Computer Scientists Take Road Less Traveled

January 29, 2013

An infinitesimal advance in the traveling salesman problem breathes new life into the search for improved approximate solutions.