combinatorial optimization algorithm
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Term information
Algorithm for "finding the least-cost solution to a mathematical problem in which each solution is associated with a numerical cost. In many such problems, exhaustive search is not feasible. It operates on the domain of those optimization problems, in which the set of feasible solutions is discrete or can be reduced to discrete, and in which the goal is to find the best solution. Some common problems involving combinatorial optimization are the traveling salesman problem and the minimum spanning tree problem. Combinatorial optimization is a subset of optimization that is related to operations research, algorithm theory, and computational complexity theory. It has important applications in several fields, including artificial intelligence, mathematics, and software engineering." source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combinatorial_optimization