Is there an efficient solution to the travelling salesman problem with binary edge weights?












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Is there a way to solve TSP in polynomial time if there are only two kinds of weights, 0 and 1?










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    3












    $begingroup$


    Is there a way to solve TSP in polynomial time if there are only two kinds of weights, 0 and 1?










    share|cite|improve this question











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      3












      3








      3


      2



      $begingroup$


      Is there a way to solve TSP in polynomial time if there are only two kinds of weights, 0 and 1?










      share|cite|improve this question











      $endgroup$




      Is there a way to solve TSP in polynomial time if there are only two kinds of weights, 0 and 1?







      traveling-salesman






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      edited Mar 24 at 11:13









      Apass.Jack

      13.9k1940




      13.9k1940










      asked Mar 24 at 7:33









      WiccanKarnakWiccanKarnak

      1185




      1185






















          2 Answers
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          7












          $begingroup$

          No, since if every edge has weight 1, there is still the question of whether any such tour exists, which is the Hamiltonian Cycle problem, and this is still NP-hard. (The link is to a Wikipedia page for Hamiltonian Path -- both the path and cycle versions of the problem are hard.)






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$









          • 3




            $begingroup$
            I initially read the question with the assumption it's asking about complete graphs - but then you can still get the Hamiltonian Cycle problem by asking if a zero-length Hamiltonian cycle exists. And if you allow retrace, the problem becomes trivial.
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 11:16












          • $begingroup$
            @JohnDvorak thanks a lot, is there a way if I guarantee no Hamiltonian Cycles?
            $endgroup$
            – WiccanKarnak
            Mar 24 at 14:43










          • $begingroup$
            Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle. And if your graph doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle ... then it definitely doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle, so what was the question again?
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 15:00












          • $begingroup$
            @WiccanKarnak : (A TSP solution is a Hamiltonian cycle ... of minimal total weight.)
            $endgroup$
            – Eric Towers
            Mar 24 at 19:39










          • $begingroup$
            Aren't you allowed to use the same edge twice in TSP?
            $endgroup$
            – immibis
            Mar 24 at 22:00



















          2












          $begingroup$

          The accepted answer isn't quite right. An instance of TSP consists of a distance between every pair of cities: that is, it consists of a weighted complete graph. Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle.



          However, it is simple to reduce HAMILTON-CYCLE to $0$$1$ TSP. Given a graph $G$, create a TSP instance where the cities are the vertices and the distance is $0$ if there is an edge between the cities and $1$ if there is not. Then $G$ has a Hamiltonian cyle if, and only if, the TSP instance has a tour of weight zero. Therefore, $0$$1$ TSP is NP-complete.






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$













          • $begingroup$
            This is a good point, though the choice of whether to require the input graph to be complete or not never makes a practical difference (for the purpose of finding a distance-minimal tour, missing edges in a graph can be encoded as arbitrarily-distant edges in a complete graph). Interestingly, in looking for a definitively canonical definition of the TSP problem, I found that on p. 211 of Garey & Johnson (1979) they require the edge weights to be in $mathbb Z^+$ -- i.e., 0-length edges are forbidden, meaning that for them, the "0-1 TSP" described here is technically not a special case of TSP!
            $endgroup$
            – j_random_hacker
            Mar 25 at 11:24










          • $begingroup$
            @j_random_hacker It's a good job I'm only throwing small stones in my glass house! (Actually, you can reduce $0$-$1$ TSP to $1$-$2$ TSP by just adding one to every edge weight and adding $n$ to the length of the path you're looking for.)
            $endgroup$
            – David Richerby
            Mar 25 at 11:29














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          2 Answers
          2






          active

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          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          7












          $begingroup$

          No, since if every edge has weight 1, there is still the question of whether any such tour exists, which is the Hamiltonian Cycle problem, and this is still NP-hard. (The link is to a Wikipedia page for Hamiltonian Path -- both the path and cycle versions of the problem are hard.)






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$









          • 3




            $begingroup$
            I initially read the question with the assumption it's asking about complete graphs - but then you can still get the Hamiltonian Cycle problem by asking if a zero-length Hamiltonian cycle exists. And if you allow retrace, the problem becomes trivial.
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 11:16












          • $begingroup$
            @JohnDvorak thanks a lot, is there a way if I guarantee no Hamiltonian Cycles?
            $endgroup$
            – WiccanKarnak
            Mar 24 at 14:43










          • $begingroup$
            Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle. And if your graph doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle ... then it definitely doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle, so what was the question again?
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 15:00












          • $begingroup$
            @WiccanKarnak : (A TSP solution is a Hamiltonian cycle ... of minimal total weight.)
            $endgroup$
            – Eric Towers
            Mar 24 at 19:39










          • $begingroup$
            Aren't you allowed to use the same edge twice in TSP?
            $endgroup$
            – immibis
            Mar 24 at 22:00
















          7












          $begingroup$

          No, since if every edge has weight 1, there is still the question of whether any such tour exists, which is the Hamiltonian Cycle problem, and this is still NP-hard. (The link is to a Wikipedia page for Hamiltonian Path -- both the path and cycle versions of the problem are hard.)






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$









          • 3




            $begingroup$
            I initially read the question with the assumption it's asking about complete graphs - but then you can still get the Hamiltonian Cycle problem by asking if a zero-length Hamiltonian cycle exists. And if you allow retrace, the problem becomes trivial.
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 11:16












          • $begingroup$
            @JohnDvorak thanks a lot, is there a way if I guarantee no Hamiltonian Cycles?
            $endgroup$
            – WiccanKarnak
            Mar 24 at 14:43










          • $begingroup$
            Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle. And if your graph doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle ... then it definitely doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle, so what was the question again?
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 15:00












          • $begingroup$
            @WiccanKarnak : (A TSP solution is a Hamiltonian cycle ... of minimal total weight.)
            $endgroup$
            – Eric Towers
            Mar 24 at 19:39










          • $begingroup$
            Aren't you allowed to use the same edge twice in TSP?
            $endgroup$
            – immibis
            Mar 24 at 22:00














          7












          7








          7





          $begingroup$

          No, since if every edge has weight 1, there is still the question of whether any such tour exists, which is the Hamiltonian Cycle problem, and this is still NP-hard. (The link is to a Wikipedia page for Hamiltonian Path -- both the path and cycle versions of the problem are hard.)






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$



          No, since if every edge has weight 1, there is still the question of whether any such tour exists, which is the Hamiltonian Cycle problem, and this is still NP-hard. (The link is to a Wikipedia page for Hamiltonian Path -- both the path and cycle versions of the problem are hard.)







          share|cite|improve this answer












          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer










          answered Mar 24 at 8:39









          j_random_hackerj_random_hacker

          2,92211016




          2,92211016








          • 3




            $begingroup$
            I initially read the question with the assumption it's asking about complete graphs - but then you can still get the Hamiltonian Cycle problem by asking if a zero-length Hamiltonian cycle exists. And if you allow retrace, the problem becomes trivial.
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 11:16












          • $begingroup$
            @JohnDvorak thanks a lot, is there a way if I guarantee no Hamiltonian Cycles?
            $endgroup$
            – WiccanKarnak
            Mar 24 at 14:43










          • $begingroup$
            Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle. And if your graph doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle ... then it definitely doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle, so what was the question again?
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 15:00












          • $begingroup$
            @WiccanKarnak : (A TSP solution is a Hamiltonian cycle ... of minimal total weight.)
            $endgroup$
            – Eric Towers
            Mar 24 at 19:39










          • $begingroup$
            Aren't you allowed to use the same edge twice in TSP?
            $endgroup$
            – immibis
            Mar 24 at 22:00














          • 3




            $begingroup$
            I initially read the question with the assumption it's asking about complete graphs - but then you can still get the Hamiltonian Cycle problem by asking if a zero-length Hamiltonian cycle exists. And if you allow retrace, the problem becomes trivial.
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 11:16












          • $begingroup$
            @JohnDvorak thanks a lot, is there a way if I guarantee no Hamiltonian Cycles?
            $endgroup$
            – WiccanKarnak
            Mar 24 at 14:43










          • $begingroup$
            Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle. And if your graph doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle ... then it definitely doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle, so what was the question again?
            $endgroup$
            – John Dvorak
            Mar 24 at 15:00












          • $begingroup$
            @WiccanKarnak : (A TSP solution is a Hamiltonian cycle ... of minimal total weight.)
            $endgroup$
            – Eric Towers
            Mar 24 at 19:39










          • $begingroup$
            Aren't you allowed to use the same edge twice in TSP?
            $endgroup$
            – immibis
            Mar 24 at 22:00








          3




          3




          $begingroup$
          I initially read the question with the assumption it's asking about complete graphs - but then you can still get the Hamiltonian Cycle problem by asking if a zero-length Hamiltonian cycle exists. And if you allow retrace, the problem becomes trivial.
          $endgroup$
          – John Dvorak
          Mar 24 at 11:16






          $begingroup$
          I initially read the question with the assumption it's asking about complete graphs - but then you can still get the Hamiltonian Cycle problem by asking if a zero-length Hamiltonian cycle exists. And if you allow retrace, the problem becomes trivial.
          $endgroup$
          – John Dvorak
          Mar 24 at 11:16














          $begingroup$
          @JohnDvorak thanks a lot, is there a way if I guarantee no Hamiltonian Cycles?
          $endgroup$
          – WiccanKarnak
          Mar 24 at 14:43




          $begingroup$
          @JohnDvorak thanks a lot, is there a way if I guarantee no Hamiltonian Cycles?
          $endgroup$
          – WiccanKarnak
          Mar 24 at 14:43












          $begingroup$
          Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle. And if your graph doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle ... then it definitely doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle, so what was the question again?
          $endgroup$
          – John Dvorak
          Mar 24 at 15:00






          $begingroup$
          Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle. And if your graph doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle ... then it definitely doesn't have a Hamiltonian cycle, so what was the question again?
          $endgroup$
          – John Dvorak
          Mar 24 at 15:00














          $begingroup$
          @WiccanKarnak : (A TSP solution is a Hamiltonian cycle ... of minimal total weight.)
          $endgroup$
          – Eric Towers
          Mar 24 at 19:39




          $begingroup$
          @WiccanKarnak : (A TSP solution is a Hamiltonian cycle ... of minimal total weight.)
          $endgroup$
          – Eric Towers
          Mar 24 at 19:39












          $begingroup$
          Aren't you allowed to use the same edge twice in TSP?
          $endgroup$
          – immibis
          Mar 24 at 22:00




          $begingroup$
          Aren't you allowed to use the same edge twice in TSP?
          $endgroup$
          – immibis
          Mar 24 at 22:00











          2












          $begingroup$

          The accepted answer isn't quite right. An instance of TSP consists of a distance between every pair of cities: that is, it consists of a weighted complete graph. Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle.



          However, it is simple to reduce HAMILTON-CYCLE to $0$$1$ TSP. Given a graph $G$, create a TSP instance where the cities are the vertices and the distance is $0$ if there is an edge between the cities and $1$ if there is not. Then $G$ has a Hamiltonian cyle if, and only if, the TSP instance has a tour of weight zero. Therefore, $0$$1$ TSP is NP-complete.






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$













          • $begingroup$
            This is a good point, though the choice of whether to require the input graph to be complete or not never makes a practical difference (for the purpose of finding a distance-minimal tour, missing edges in a graph can be encoded as arbitrarily-distant edges in a complete graph). Interestingly, in looking for a definitively canonical definition of the TSP problem, I found that on p. 211 of Garey & Johnson (1979) they require the edge weights to be in $mathbb Z^+$ -- i.e., 0-length edges are forbidden, meaning that for them, the "0-1 TSP" described here is technically not a special case of TSP!
            $endgroup$
            – j_random_hacker
            Mar 25 at 11:24










          • $begingroup$
            @j_random_hacker It's a good job I'm only throwing small stones in my glass house! (Actually, you can reduce $0$-$1$ TSP to $1$-$2$ TSP by just adding one to every edge weight and adding $n$ to the length of the path you're looking for.)
            $endgroup$
            – David Richerby
            Mar 25 at 11:29


















          2












          $begingroup$

          The accepted answer isn't quite right. An instance of TSP consists of a distance between every pair of cities: that is, it consists of a weighted complete graph. Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle.



          However, it is simple to reduce HAMILTON-CYCLE to $0$$1$ TSP. Given a graph $G$, create a TSP instance where the cities are the vertices and the distance is $0$ if there is an edge between the cities and $1$ if there is not. Then $G$ has a Hamiltonian cyle if, and only if, the TSP instance has a tour of weight zero. Therefore, $0$$1$ TSP is NP-complete.






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$













          • $begingroup$
            This is a good point, though the choice of whether to require the input graph to be complete or not never makes a practical difference (for the purpose of finding a distance-minimal tour, missing edges in a graph can be encoded as arbitrarily-distant edges in a complete graph). Interestingly, in looking for a definitively canonical definition of the TSP problem, I found that on p. 211 of Garey & Johnson (1979) they require the edge weights to be in $mathbb Z^+$ -- i.e., 0-length edges are forbidden, meaning that for them, the "0-1 TSP" described here is technically not a special case of TSP!
            $endgroup$
            – j_random_hacker
            Mar 25 at 11:24










          • $begingroup$
            @j_random_hacker It's a good job I'm only throwing small stones in my glass house! (Actually, you can reduce $0$-$1$ TSP to $1$-$2$ TSP by just adding one to every edge weight and adding $n$ to the length of the path you're looking for.)
            $endgroup$
            – David Richerby
            Mar 25 at 11:29
















          2












          2








          2





          $begingroup$

          The accepted answer isn't quite right. An instance of TSP consists of a distance between every pair of cities: that is, it consists of a weighted complete graph. Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle.



          However, it is simple to reduce HAMILTON-CYCLE to $0$$1$ TSP. Given a graph $G$, create a TSP instance where the cities are the vertices and the distance is $0$ if there is an edge between the cities and $1$ if there is not. Then $G$ has a Hamiltonian cyle if, and only if, the TSP instance has a tour of weight zero. Therefore, $0$$1$ TSP is NP-complete.






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$



          The accepted answer isn't quite right. An instance of TSP consists of a distance between every pair of cities: that is, it consists of a weighted complete graph. Every complete graph has a Hamiltonian cycle.



          However, it is simple to reduce HAMILTON-CYCLE to $0$$1$ TSP. Given a graph $G$, create a TSP instance where the cities are the vertices and the distance is $0$ if there is an edge between the cities and $1$ if there is not. Then $G$ has a Hamiltonian cyle if, and only if, the TSP instance has a tour of weight zero. Therefore, $0$$1$ TSP is NP-complete.







          share|cite|improve this answer












          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer










          answered Mar 24 at 20:20









          David RicherbyDavid Richerby

          69.6k15106195




          69.6k15106195












          • $begingroup$
            This is a good point, though the choice of whether to require the input graph to be complete or not never makes a practical difference (for the purpose of finding a distance-minimal tour, missing edges in a graph can be encoded as arbitrarily-distant edges in a complete graph). Interestingly, in looking for a definitively canonical definition of the TSP problem, I found that on p. 211 of Garey & Johnson (1979) they require the edge weights to be in $mathbb Z^+$ -- i.e., 0-length edges are forbidden, meaning that for them, the "0-1 TSP" described here is technically not a special case of TSP!
            $endgroup$
            – j_random_hacker
            Mar 25 at 11:24










          • $begingroup$
            @j_random_hacker It's a good job I'm only throwing small stones in my glass house! (Actually, you can reduce $0$-$1$ TSP to $1$-$2$ TSP by just adding one to every edge weight and adding $n$ to the length of the path you're looking for.)
            $endgroup$
            – David Richerby
            Mar 25 at 11:29




















          • $begingroup$
            This is a good point, though the choice of whether to require the input graph to be complete or not never makes a practical difference (for the purpose of finding a distance-minimal tour, missing edges in a graph can be encoded as arbitrarily-distant edges in a complete graph). Interestingly, in looking for a definitively canonical definition of the TSP problem, I found that on p. 211 of Garey & Johnson (1979) they require the edge weights to be in $mathbb Z^+$ -- i.e., 0-length edges are forbidden, meaning that for them, the "0-1 TSP" described here is technically not a special case of TSP!
            $endgroup$
            – j_random_hacker
            Mar 25 at 11:24










          • $begingroup$
            @j_random_hacker It's a good job I'm only throwing small stones in my glass house! (Actually, you can reduce $0$-$1$ TSP to $1$-$2$ TSP by just adding one to every edge weight and adding $n$ to the length of the path you're looking for.)
            $endgroup$
            – David Richerby
            Mar 25 at 11:29


















          $begingroup$
          This is a good point, though the choice of whether to require the input graph to be complete or not never makes a practical difference (for the purpose of finding a distance-minimal tour, missing edges in a graph can be encoded as arbitrarily-distant edges in a complete graph). Interestingly, in looking for a definitively canonical definition of the TSP problem, I found that on p. 211 of Garey & Johnson (1979) they require the edge weights to be in $mathbb Z^+$ -- i.e., 0-length edges are forbidden, meaning that for them, the "0-1 TSP" described here is technically not a special case of TSP!
          $endgroup$
          – j_random_hacker
          Mar 25 at 11:24




          $begingroup$
          This is a good point, though the choice of whether to require the input graph to be complete or not never makes a practical difference (for the purpose of finding a distance-minimal tour, missing edges in a graph can be encoded as arbitrarily-distant edges in a complete graph). Interestingly, in looking for a definitively canonical definition of the TSP problem, I found that on p. 211 of Garey & Johnson (1979) they require the edge weights to be in $mathbb Z^+$ -- i.e., 0-length edges are forbidden, meaning that for them, the "0-1 TSP" described here is technically not a special case of TSP!
          $endgroup$
          – j_random_hacker
          Mar 25 at 11:24












          $begingroup$
          @j_random_hacker It's a good job I'm only throwing small stones in my glass house! (Actually, you can reduce $0$-$1$ TSP to $1$-$2$ TSP by just adding one to every edge weight and adding $n$ to the length of the path you're looking for.)
          $endgroup$
          – David Richerby
          Mar 25 at 11:29






          $begingroup$
          @j_random_hacker It's a good job I'm only throwing small stones in my glass house! (Actually, you can reduce $0$-$1$ TSP to $1$-$2$ TSP by just adding one to every edge weight and adding $n$ to the length of the path you're looking for.)
          $endgroup$
          – David Richerby
          Mar 25 at 11:29




















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