A factor 1/2 approximation algorithm for two-stage stochastic matching problems

We introduce the two-stage stochastic maximum-weight matching problem and demonstrate that this problem is NP-complete. We give a factor 1 2 approximation algorithm and prove its correctness. We also provide a tight example to show the bound given by the algorithm is exactly 1 2 . Computational results on some two-stage stochastic bipartite matching instances indicate that the performance of the approximation algorithm appears to be substantially better than its worst-case performance.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: EOR
• Authors: Nan Kong, Andrew J. Schaefer
• Keywords: Algorithm, EOR 2006, Stochastic Maximum-weight Matching, Two-stage Stochastic Bipartite