{"product_id":"the-quadratic-assignment-problem-theory-and-algorithms-9780792348788","title":"The Quadratic Assignment Problem: Theory and Algorithms","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): E. Cela\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Springer\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Springer\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Combinatorics\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe quadratic assignment problem (QAP) was introduced in 1957 by Koopmans and Beckmann to model a plant location problem. Since then the QAP has been object of numerous investigations by mathematicians, computers scientists, ope- tions researchers and practitioners. Nowadays the QAP is widely considered as a classical combinatorial optimization problem which is (still) attractive from many points of view. In our opinion there are at last three main reasons which make the QAP a popular problem in combinatorial optimization. First, the number of re- life problems which are mathematically modeled by QAPs has been continuously increasing and the variety of the fields they belong to is astonishing. To recall just a restricted number among the applications of the QAP let us mention placement problems, scheduling, manufacturing, VLSI design, statistical data analysis, and parallel and distributed computing. Secondly, a number of other well known c- binatorial optimization problems can be formulated as QAPs. Typical examples are the traveling salesman problem and a large number of optimization problems in graphs such as the maximum clique problem, the graph partitioning problem and the minimum feedback arc set problem. Finally, from a computational point of view the QAP is a very difficult problem. The QAP is not only NP-hard and - hard to approximate, but it is also practically intractable: it is generally considered as impossible to solve (to optimality) QAP instances of size larger than 20 within reasonable time limits.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Springer","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":45283563208855,"sku":"9780792348788","price":11017.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780792348788.webp?v=1769305325","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/the-quadratic-assignment-problem-theory-and-algorithms-9780792348788","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}