CLASSROOM NOTES: A nod to the traveling salesman -- from Wolfram Library Archive

Title

CLASSROOM NOTES: A nod to the traveling salesman

Author

Bruce Torrence

Organization:

Randolph-Macon College

Department:

Department of Mathematics

Journal / Anthology

Mathematica in Education and Research

Year:

2006

Volume:

Issue:

Description

The traveling salesman problem is perhaps the best known of the NP-complete problems. These are the most difficult problems in the class known as NP (nondeterministic polynomial time), where no efficient, or polynomial time, algorithm has been discovered to solve one. As such, the traveling salesman problem makes an excellent introduction to the concept of combinatorial complexity. In this note we will show how the Combinatorica package and some simple greedy algorithms can be easily harnessed to bring these concepts into the classroom.

Subjects

	Mathematics > Discrete Mathematics > Combinatorics
	Wolfram Technology > Application Packages

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