Approximation algorithms for array partitioning problems

  • Authors:
  • S. Muthukrishnan;Torsten Suel

  • Affiliations:
  • Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ;CIS Department, Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Algorithms
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

We study the problem of optimally partitioning a two-dimensional array of elements by cutting each coordinate axis into p (respectively, q) intervals, resulting in p × q rectangular regions. This problem arises in several applications in databases, parallel computation, and image processing. Our main contribution are new approximation algorithms for these NP-complete problems that improve significantly over previously known bounds. The algorithms are fast and simple, work for a variety of measures of partitioning quality, generalize to dimensions d 2, and achieve almost optimal approximation ratios. We also extend previous NP-completeness results for this class of problems.