Extrema of a Class of Functions on a Finite Set

Abstract

In this paper, we are concerned with the following problem: Let S be a finite set and Sm* ⊂ 2S a collection of subsets of S each of whose members has m elements (m a positive integer). Let f be a real-valued function on S and, for p ∊ Sm*, define f(P) as Σs∊pf (s). We seek the minimum (or maximum) of the function f on the set Sm*.The Traveling Salesman Problem is to find the cheapest polygonal path through a given set of vertices, given the cost of getting from any vertex to any other. It is easily seen that the Traveling Salesman Problem is a special case of this system, where S is the set of all edges joining pairs of points in the vertex set, Sm* is the set of polygons, each polygon has m elements (m = no. of points in the vertex set = no. of edges per polygon), and f is the cost function.