On the complexity of some Euclidean problems of partitioning a finite set of points

Problems of partitioning a finite set of Euclidean points (vectors) into clusters are considered. The criterion is to minimize the sum, over all clusters, of (1) squared norms of the sums of cluster elements normalized by the cardinality, (2) squared norms of the sums of cluster elements, and (3) norms of the sum of cluster elements. It is proved that all these problems are strongly NP-hard if the number of clusters is a part of the input and are NP-hard in the ordinary sense if the number of clusters is not a part of the input (is fixed). Moreover, the problems are NP-hard even in the case of dimension 1 (on a line).     

On the complexity of some quadratic Euclidean 2-clustering problems

Some problems of partitioning a finite set of points of Euclidean space into two clusters are considered. In these problems, the following criteria are minimized: (1) the sum over both clusters of the sums of squared pairwise distances between the elements of the cluster and (2) the sum of the (multiplied by the cardinalities of the clusters) sums of squared distances from the elements of the cluster to its geometric center, where the geometric center (or centroid) of a cluster is defined as the mean value of the elements in that cluster. Additionally, another problem close to (2) is considered, where the desired center of one of the clusters is given as input, while the center of the other cluster is unknown (is the variable to be optimized) as in problem (2). Two variants of the problems are analyzed, in which the cardinalities of the clusters are (1) parts of the input or (2) optimization variables. It is proved that all the considered problems are strongly NP-hard and that, in general, there is no fully polynomial-time approximation scheme for them (unless P = NP).     

Exact pseudopolynomial algorithms for a balanced 2-clustering problem

We consider the strongly NP-hard problem of partitioning a set of Euclidean points into two clusters so as to minimize the sum (over both clusters) of the weighted sum of the squared intracluster distances from the elements of the clusters to their centers. The weights of sums are the sizes of the clusters. The center of one cluster is given as input, while the center of the other cluster is unknown and determined as the average value over all points in the cluster (as the geometric center). Two variants of the problems are analyzed in which the cluster sizes are either given or unknown. We present and prove some exact pseudopolynomial algorithms in the case of integer components of the input points and fixed space dimension.     

Polynomial-Time Approximation Algorithm for the Problem of Cardinality-Weighted Variance-Based 2-Clustering with a Given Center

A strongly NP-hard problem of partitioning a finite set of points of Euclidean space into two clusters is considered. The solution criterion is the minimum of the sum (over both clusters) of weighted sums of squared distances from the elements of each cluster to its geometric center. The weights of the sums are equal to the cardinalities of the desired clusters. The center of one cluster is given as input, while the center of the other is unknown and is determined as the point of space equal to the mean of the cluster elements. A version of the problem is analyzed in which the cardinalities of the clusters are given as input. A polynomial-time 2-approximation algorithm for solving the problem is constructed.     

Approximation algorithm for the problem of partitioning a sequence into clusters

We consider the problem of partitioning a finite sequence of Euclidean points into a given number of clusters (subsequences) using the criterion of the minimal sum (over all clusters) of intercluster sums of squared distances from the elements of the clusters to their centers. It is assumed that the center of one of the desired clusters is at the origin, while the center of each of the other clusters is unknown and determined as the mean value over all elements in this cluster. Additionally, the partition obeys two structural constraints on the indices of sequence elements contained in the clusters with unknown centers: (1) the concatenation of the indices of elements in these clusters is an increasing sequence, and (2) the difference between an index and the preceding one is bounded above and below by prescribed constants. It is shown that this problem is strongly NP-hard. A 2-approximation algorithm is constructed that is polynomial-time for a fixed number of clusters.     

A fully polynomial-time approximation scheme for a sequence 2-cluster partitioning problem

We consider a strongly NP-hard problem of partitioning a finite sequence of points in Euclidean space into the two clustersminimizing the sum over both clusters of intra-cluster sums of squared distances from the clusters elements to their centers. The sizes of the clusters are fixed. The centroid of the first cluster is defined as the mean value of all vectors in the cluster, and the center of the second cluster is given in advance and equals 0. Additionally, the partition must satisfy the restriction that for all vectors in the first cluster the difference between the indices of two consequent points from this cluster is bounded from below and above by some given constants.We present a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme for the case of fixed space dimension.     

Fully polynomial-time approximation scheme for a special case of a quadratic Euclidean 2-clustering problem

The strongly NP-hard problem of partitioning a finite set of points of Euclidean space into two clusters of given sizes (cardinalities) minimizing the sum (over both clusters) of the intracluster sums of squared distances from the elements of the clusters to their centers is considered. It is assumed that the center of one of the sought clusters is specified at the desired (arbitrary) point of space (without loss of generality, at the origin), while the center of the other one is unknown and determined as the mean value over all elements of this cluster. It is shown that unless P = NP, there is no fully polynomial-time approximation scheme for this problem, and such a scheme is substantiated in the case of a fixed space dimension.     

On the complexity of some Euclidean optimal summing problems

The complexity status of several discrete optimization problems concerning the search for a subset of a finite set of Euclidean points (vectors) is analyzed. In the considered problems, the aim is to minimize objective functions depending either only on the norm of the sum of the elements from the subset or on this norm and the cardinality of the subset. It is proved that, if the dimension of the space is part of the input, then all analyzed problems are strongly NP-hard and, if the space dimension is fixed, then these problems are NP-hard even for dimension 2 (on a plane). It is shown that, if the coordinates of the input points are integer, then all the problems can be solved in pseudopolynomial time in the case of a fixed space dimension.     

On complexity of some problems of cluster analysis of vector sequences

NP-completeness of two clustering (partition) problems is proved for a finite sequence of Euclidean vectors. In the optimization versions of both problems it is required to partition the elements of the sequence into a fixed number of clusters minimizing the sum of squares of the distances from the cluster elements to their centers. In the first problem the sizes of clusters are the part of input, while in the second they are unknown (they are the variables for optimization). Except for the center of one (special) cluster, the center of each cluster is the mean value of all vectors contained in it. The center of the special cluster is zero. Also, the partition must satisfy the following condition: The difference between the indices of two consecutive vectors in every nonspecial cluster is bounded below and above by two given constants.     

Pseudopolynomial time solvability of a quadratic Euclidean problem of finding a family of disjoint subsets

In this paper, a strongly NP-hard problem of finding a family of disjoint subsets with given cardinalities in a finite set of points from a Euclidean space is considered. Minimization of the sum over all required subsets of the sum of the squared distances from the elements of these subsets to their geometric centers is used as the search criterion. It is proved that if the coordinates of the input points are integer and the space dimension and the number of required subsets are fixed (i.e., bounded by some constants), the problem is a pseudopolynomial time solvable one.     

On the complexity and approximability of some Euclidean optimal summing problems

The complexity status of several well-known discrete optimization problems with the direction of optimization switching from maximum to minimum is analyzed. The task is to find a subset of a finite set of Euclidean points (vectors). In these problems, the objective functions depend either only on the norm of the sum of the elements from the subset or on this norm and the cardinality of the subset. It is proved that, if the dimension of the space is a part of the input, then all these problems are strongly NP-hard. Additionally, it is shown that, if the space dimension is fixed, then all the problems are NP-hard even for dimension 2 (on a plane) and there are no approximation algorithms with a guaranteed accuracy bound for them unless P = NP. It is shown that, if the coordinates of the input points are integer, then all the problems can be solved in pseudopolynomial time in the case of a fixed space dimension.     

Sums and differences along Hamiltonian cycles

Given a finite abelian group G, consider the complete graph on the set of all elements of G. Find a Hamiltonian cycle in this graph and for each pair of consecutive vertices along the cycle compute their sum. What are the smallest and the largest possible number of distinct sums that can emerge in this way? What is the expected number of distinct sums if the cycle is chosen randomly? How the answers change if an orientation is given to the cycle and differences (instead of sums) are computed? We give complete solutions to some of these problems and establish reasonably sharp estimates for the rest.     

Sums and differences along Hamiltonian cycles

Given a finite abelian group G, consider the complete graph on the set of all elements of G. Find a Hamiltonian cycle in this graph and for each pair of consecutive vertices along the cycle compute their sum. What are the smallest and the largest possible number of distinct sums that can emerge in this way? What is the expected number of distinct sums if the cycle is chosen randomly? How do the answers change if an orientation is given to the cycle and differences (instead of sums) are computed? We give complete solutions to some of these problems and establish reasonably sharp estimates for the rest.     

Min–max and min–max (relative) regret approaches to representatives selection problem

The following optimization problem is studied. There are several sets of integer positive numbers whose values are uncertain. The problem is to select one representative of each set such that the sum of the selected numbers is minimum. The uncertainty is modeled by discrete and interval scenarios, and the min?Cmax and min?Cmax (relative) regret approaches are used for making a selection decision. The arising min?Cmax, min?Cmax regret and min?Cmax relative regret optimization problems are shown to be polynomially solvable for interval scenarios. For discrete scenarios, they are proved to be NP-hard in the strong sense if the number of scenarios is part of the input. If it is part of the problem type, then they are NP-hard in the ordinary sense, pseudo-polynomially solvable by a dynamic programming algorithm and possess an FPTAS. This study is motivated by the problem of selecting tools of minimum total cost in the design of a production line.     

An Approximation Scheme for the Problem of Finding a Subsequence

We consider a strongly NP-hard Euclidean problem of finding a subsequence in a finite sequence. The criterion of the solution is the minimum sum of squared distances from the elements of a sought subsequence to its geometric center (centroid). It is assumed that a sought subsequence contains a given number of elements. In addition, a sought subsequence should satisfy the following condition: the difference between the indices of each previous and subsequent points is bounded with given lower and upper constants.We present an approximation algorithm of solving the problem and prove that it is a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme (FPTAS) when the space dimension is bounded by a constant.     

Representing algebraic integers as linear combinations of units

In this paper we consider representations of algebraic integers of a number field as linear combinations of units with coefficients coming from a fixed small set, and as sums of elements having small norms in absolute value. These theorems can be viewed as results concerning a generalization of the so-called unit sum number problem, as well. Beside these, extending previous related results we give an upper bound for the length of arithmetic progressions of \(t\) -term sums of algebraic integers having small norms in absolute value.     

Clustering Methods in Microarrays

Summary DCT Given a finite set of points in an Euclidean space the \emph{spanning tree} is a tree of minimal length having the given points as vertices. The length of the tree is the sum of the distances of all connected point pairs of the tree. The clustering tree with a given length of a given finite set of points is the spanning tree of an appropriately chosen other set of points approximating the given set of points with minimal sum of square distances among all spanning trees with the given length. DCM A matrix of real numbers is said to be column monotone orderable if there exists an ordering of columns of the matrix such that all rows of the matrix become monotone after ordering. The {\emph{monotone sum of squares of a matrix}} is the minimum of sum of squares of differences of the elements of the matrix and a column monotone orderable matrix where the minimum is taken on the set of all column monotone orderable matrices. Decomposition clusters of monotone orderings of a matrix is a clustering ofthe rows of the matrix into given number of clusters such that thesum of monotone sum of squares of the matrices formed by the rowsof the same cluster is minimal.DCP A matrix of real numbers is said to be column partitionable if there exists a partition of the columns such that the elements belonging to the same subset of the partition are equal in each row. Given a partition of the columns of a matrix the partition sum of squares of the matrix is the minimum of the sum of square of differences of the elements of the matrix and a column partitionable matrix where the minimum is taken on the set of all column partitionable matrices. Decomposition of the rows of a matrix into clusters of partitions is the minimization of the corresponding partition sum of squares given the number of clusters and the sizes of the subsets of the partitions.     

Triangular norms as ordinal sums of semigroups in the sense of A. H. Clifford

Ordinal sums of semigroups in the sense of [3] leading to triangular norms [29] are studied, generalizing the ordinal sum of triangular norms [30]. The summands of these general ordinal sums are fully characterized, and the ordinal irreducibility of triangular norms is investigated, inducing a natural partition of the class of all triangular norms.     

A clustering approach to the planar hub location problem

The problem tackled in this paper is as follows: consider a set ofn interacting points in a two-dimensional space. The levels of interactions between the observations are given exogenously. It is required to cluster then observations intop groups, so that the sum of squared deviations from the cluster means is as small as possible. Further, assume that the cluster means are adjusted to reflect the interaction between the entities. (It is this latter consideration which makes the problem interesting.) A useful property of the problem is that the use of a squared distance term yields a linear system of equations for the coordinates of the cluster centroids. These equations are derived and solved repeatedly for a given set of cluster allocations. A sequential reallocation of the observations between the clusters is then performed. One possible application of this problem is to the planar hub location problem, where the interacting observations are a system of cities and the interaction effects represent the levels of flow or movement between the entities. The planar hub location problem has been limited so far to problems with fewer than 100 nodes. The use of the squared distance formulation, and a powerful supercomputer (Cray Y-MP) has enabled quick solution of large systems with 250 points and four groups. The paper includes both small illustrative examples and computational results using systems with up to 500 observations and 9 clusters.     

An approximating polynomial algorithm for a sequence partitioning problem

We consider a strongly NP-hard problem of partitioning a finite sequence of vectors in Euclidean space into two clusters using the criterion of minimum sum-of-squares of distances from the elements of clusters to their centers. We assume that the cardinalities of the clusters are fixed. The center of one cluster has to be optimized and is defined as the average value over all vectors in this cluster. The center of the other cluster lies at the origin. The partition satisfies the condition: the difference of the indices of the next and previous vectors in the first cluster is bounded above and below by two given constants. We propose a 2-approximation polynomial algorithm to solve this problem.