IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v286y2020i2p458-467.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Finding the largest triangle in a graph in expected quadratic time

Author

Listed:
  • Lancia, Giuseppe
  • Vidoni, Paolo

Abstract

Finding the largest triangle in an n-nodes edge-weighted graph belongs to a set of problems all equivalent under subcubic reductions. Namely, a truly subcubic algorithm for any one of them would imply that they are all subcubic. A recent strong conjecture states that none of them can be solved in less than Θ(n3) time, but this negative result does not rule out the possibility of algorithms with average, rather than worst-case, subcubic running time. Indeed, in this work we describe the first truly-subcubic average complexity procedure for this problem for graphs whose edge lengths are uniformly distributed in [0,1]. Our procedure finds the largest triangle in average quadratic time, which is the best possible complexity of any algorithm for this problem. We also give empirical evidence that the quadratic average complexity holds for many other random distributions of the edge lengths. A notable exception is when the lengths are distances between random points in Euclidean space, for which the algorithm takes average cubic time.

Suggested Citation

  • Lancia, Giuseppe & Vidoni, Paolo, 2020. "Finding the largest triangle in a graph in expected quadratic time," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 286(2), pages 458-467.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:286:y:2020:i:2:p:458-467
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2020.03.059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221720302897
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.03.059?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerhard Reinelt, 1991. "TSPLIB—A Traveling Salesman Problem Library," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 376-384, November.
    2. Rego, César & Gamboa, Dorabela & Glover, Fred & Osterman, Colin, 2011. "Traveling salesman problem heuristics: Leading methods, implementations and latest advances," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 211(3), pages 427-441, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gary R. Waissi & Pragya Kaushal, 2020. "A polynomial matrix processing heuristic algorithm for finding high quality feasible solutions for the TSP," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 57(1), pages 73-87, March.
    2. Sleegers, Joeri & Olij, Richard & van Horn, Gijs & van den Berg, Daan, 2020. "Where the really hard problems aren’t," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 7(C).
    3. Heber F. Amaral & Sebastián Urrutia & Lars M. Hvattum, 2021. "Delayed improvement local search," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 27(5), pages 923-950, October.
    4. Muren, & Wu, Jianjun & Zhou, Li & Du, Zhiping & Lv, Ying, 2019. "Mixed steepest descent algorithm for the traveling salesman problem and application in air logistics," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 87-102.
    5. S Salhi & A Al-Khedhairi, 2010. "Integrating heuristic information into exact methods: The case of the vertex p-centre problem," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(11), pages 1619-1631, November.
    6. Rafael Blanquero & Emilio Carrizosa & Amaya Nogales-Gómez & Frank Plastria, 2014. "Single-facility huff location problems on networks," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 222(1), pages 175-195, November.
    7. Martins, Francisco Leonardo Bezerra & do Nascimento, José Cláudio, 2022. "Power law dynamics in genealogical graphs," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 596(C).
    8. Marjan Marzban & Qian-Ping Gu & Xiaohua Jia, 2016. "New analysis and computational study for the planar connected dominating set problem," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 198-225, July.
    9. Ferrer, José M. & Martín-Campo, F. Javier & Ortuño, M. Teresa & Pedraza-Martínez, Alfonso J. & Tirado, Gregorio & Vitoriano, Begoña, 2018. "Multi-criteria optimization for last mile distribution of disaster relief aid: Test cases and applications," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(2), pages 501-515.
    10. R. Baldacci & E. Hadjiconstantinou & A. Mingozzi, 2004. "An Exact Algorithm for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem Based on a Two-Commodity Network Flow Formulation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 52(5), pages 723-738, October.
    11. Roberto Tadei & Guido Perboli & Francesca Perfetti, 2017. "The multi-path Traveling Salesman Problem with stochastic travel costs," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 6(1), pages 3-23, March.
    12. Oya Ekin Karaşan & A. Ridha Mahjoub & Onur Özkök & Hande Yaman, 2014. "Survivability in Hierarchical Telecommunications Networks Under Dual Homing," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 1-15, February.
    13. Paredes-Belmar, Germán & Montero, Elizabeth & Lüer-Villagra, Armin & Marianov, Vladimir & Araya-Sassi, Claudio, 2022. "Vehicle routing for milk collection with gradual blending: A case arising in Chile," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 303(3), pages 1403-1416.
    14. Thanh Tan Doan & Nathalie Bostel & Minh Hoàng Hà & Vu Hoang Vuong Nguyen, 2023. "New mixed integer linear programming models and an iterated local search for the clustered traveling salesman problem with relaxed priority rule," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 1-27, August.
    15. F. Angel-Bello & Y. Cardona-Valdés & A. Álvarez, 2019. "Mixed integer formulations for the multiple minimum latency problem," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 369-398, June.
    16. Jean-Charles Créput & Amir Hajjam & Abderrafiaa Koukam & Olivier Kuhn, 2012. "Self-organizing maps in population based metaheuristic to the dynamic vehicle routing problem," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 437-458, November.
    17. Jian Lin & Xiangfei Zeng & Jianxun Liu & Keqin Li, 2022. "Angular bisector insertion algorithm for solving small-scale symmetric and asymmetric traveling salesman problem," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 235-252, January.
    18. Leticia Vargas & Nicolas Jozefowiez & Sandra Ulrich Ngueveu, 2017. "A dynamic programming operator for tour location problems applied to the covering tour problem," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 53-80, February.
    19. Afsaneh Amiri & Majid Salari, 2019. "Time-constrained maximal covering routing problem," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 41(2), pages 415-468, June.
    20. Marcel Turkensteen & Dmitry Malyshev & Boris Goldengorin & Panos M. Pardalos, 2017. "The reduction of computation times of upper and lower tolerances for selected combinatorial optimization problems," Journal of Global Optimization, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 601-622, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:286:y:2020:i:2:p:458-467. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.