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The Travelling Salesman Problem for finite-sized cities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2010

HUGO FORT
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay Email: hugo@fisica.edu.uy
MORDECHAI KORNBLUTH
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Yeshiva University, New York, U.S.A. Email: mkornblu@yu.edu, zypman@yu.edu
FREDY ZYPMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Yeshiva University, New York, U.S.A. Email: mkornblu@yu.edu, zypman@yu.edu

Abstract

We consider a variation of the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) in which the cities visited have non-zero spatial extent, in contrast with the classical TSP, which has destinations that are mathematical points. This new approach opens up both new analyses of the problem and new algorithms for solutions, while remaining an economic first approximation to the standard problem. We present one particular solution that, depending on the number and size of the cities, can improve existing algorithms solving the classical TSP.

Type
Paper
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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