Vertex Cover Approximations on Random Graphs

Abstract. The vertex cover problem is a classical NP-complete problem for which the best worst-case approximation ratio is 2− o(1). In this paper, we use a collection of simple graph transformations, each of which guarantees an approximation ratio of 3 2 , to find approximate vertex covers for a large collection of randomly generated graphs. These reductions are extremely fast and even though they, by themselves are not guaranteed to find a vertex cover, we manage to find a 3 2 -approximate vertex cover for almost every single random graph we generate.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: WEA
• Authors: Eyjolfur Asgeirsson, Clifford Stein
• Keywords: Algorithms, Approximation Ratio, Vertex Cover, Vertex Cover Problem, WEA 2007