Why packing your car can be so frustrating.
Are you one of those people who always seems to pack just a bit too much for your car to handle when packing for a vacation? Then you should have a look at this article!
Is it easier to find half a needle than a full needle in a random network?
Common sense tells us that objects of comparable size should be equally hard to find. Yet, when searching inside a random network, surprises are awaiting . . .
Enigma: a complexity titan
In times of war, secure communication can be the difference between life and death, or even winning or losing a war. The first to patent a rotor machine in Europe was Arthur Scherbius in 1918. Scherbius’ version of the rotor machine became a commercial success, unlike the other patented machines. Scherbius named his machine Enigma.
Cycling to 57,912 National Monuments in the Netherlands
In March 2021 the largest roadmap instance of the traveling salesman problem ever was solved. This is a new record for the Travelling Salesman!
A big breakthrough in the Euclidean Travelling Salesman Problem
Recently there has been a breakthrough in the field of algorithms for geometric network problems, concerning the complexity of the Euclidean Travelling Salesman Problem.
Attacking complex problems using preprocessing
A lot of services that we enjoy every day, for example commuting by train or ordering some product from a web-shop, give rise to very complex problems, like making the daily train schedule or deciding how all the products that have been ordered should be delivered. How can we efficiently solve such problems? In this article I will explain how a method called preprocessing works.
How to plan Valentine’s day using a matching algorithm
Finding a dating schedule that matches pairs of potential lovers up into dating couples, is an example of an algorithmic problem. There is a clearly defined input, given by the lists of who is considered an acceptable dating partner to whom. It is also clear what we want as the output: a pairing of classmates into acceptable boy-girl pairs that has as many pairs (dates) as possible. How can you find the best dating schedule?