Forget GPS. With no fancy maps or even brains, immune system cells can solve a simple version of the traveling salesman problem, a computational conundrum that has vexed mathematicians for decades.

Tackling the traveling salesman problem with chemotaxis is a nice example of when the suboptimal is optimal, says Bartumeus. Of course, with all the information, time and resources in the world, ...

We designed a simple computational exercise to compare weak and strong integer programming formulations of the traveling salesman problem. Using commercial IP software, and a short (60 line long) ...

Dr. James McCaffrey of Microsoft Research uses full code samples to detail an evolutionary algorithm technique that apparently hasn't been published before. The goal of a combinatorial optimization ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract We consider partitioning algorithms for the approximate solution of large instances of the traveling-salesman problem in the plane. These ...

Is it hopeless to try to compute the shortest route to visit a large number of cities? Not just a good route but the guaranteed shortest. The task is the long-standing challenge known as the traveling ...

Bumblebees can find the solution to a complex mathematical problem which keeps computers busy for days. Scientists in the UK have discovered that bees learn to fly the shortest possible route between ...

The human mind is a path-planning wizard. Think back to pre-lockdown days when we all ran multiple errands back to back across town. There was always a mental dance in the back of your head to make ...