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traveling salesperson problem

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What Makes Quantum Computing So Hard to Explain?

By Scott Aaronson
June 8, 2021
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To understand what quantum computers can do — and what they can’t — avoid falling for overly simple explanations.

An illustration of computer scientists looking down a new road that breaks open a traveling salesperson route.
algorithms

Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record

By Erica Klarreich
October 8, 2020
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After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously difficult traveling salesperson problem.

combinatorics

Mystery Math Whiz and Novelist Advance Permutation Problem

By Erica Klarreich
November 5, 2018
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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.

Abstractions blog

One-Way Salesman Finds Fast Path Home

By Mark Kim-Mulgrew
October 5, 2017
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The real-world version of the famous “traveling salesman problem” finally gets a good-enough solution.

Mathematics

‘Outsiders’ Crack 50-Year-Old Math Problem

By Erica Klarreich
November 24, 2015
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Three computer scientists have solved a problem central to a dozen far-flung mathematical fields.

traveling salesperson problem

Computer Scientists Take Road Less Traveled

By Erica Klarreich
January 29, 2013
Read Later

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

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