Tech Report CS-92-37

Approximation Algorithms for Geometric Median Problems

Jyh-Han Lin and Jeffrey Scott Vitter

August 1992

Abstract:

In this paper we present approximation algorithms for median problems in metric spaces and fixed-dimensional Euclidean space. Our algorithms use a new method for transforming an optimal solution of the linear program relaxation of the s-median problem into a provably good integral solution. This transformation technique is fundamentally different from the methods of randomized and deterministic rounding in the literature in the following way: Previous techniques never set variables with zero values in the fractional solution to 1. This departure from previous methods is crucial for the success of our algorithms.

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