When polynomial approximation meets exact computation

Abstract

We outline a relatively new research agenda aiming at building a new approximation paradigm by matching two distinct domains, the polynomial approximation and the exact solution of NP-hard problems by algorithms with guaranteed and non-trivial upper complexity bounds. We show how one can design approximation algorithms achieving ratios that are “forbidden” in polynomial time (unless a very unlikely complexity conjecture is confirmed) with worst-case complexity much lower than that of an exact computation.