On a dual version of the one-dimensional bin packing problem

The NP-hard problem of packing items from a given set into bins so as to maximize the number of bins used, subject to the constraint that each bin be filled to at least a given threshold, is considered. Approximation algorithms are presented that provide guarantees of , , and the optimal number, at running time costs of O(n), O(nlogn), and O(nlog²n), respectively, and the average case behavior of these algorithms is explored via empirical tests on randomly generated sets of items.