Differential approximation schemes for half-product related functions and their scheduling applications

Abstract

We address the problem of minimizing a half-product function, with and without a linear knapsack constraint. We show how to convert known fully polynomial-time approximation schemes to differential approximation schemes that handle the problems with and without an additive constant and with and without a linear knapsack constraint. Thereby, we resolve the issue of differential approximation for a range of scheduling problems.