33 Search Results for "Munagala, Kamesh"


Document
Online Hitting Set for Axis-Aligned Squares

Authors: Minati De, Satyam Singh, and Csaba D. Tóth

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 370, 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)


Abstract
Given a set P of n points in the plane and a sequence of axis-aligned squares that arrive in an online fashion, the online hitting set problem consists of maintaining, by adding new points from P if necessary, a hitting set H ⊆ P, which contains at least one point in every input square that has already arrived. We present an O(log n)-competitive deterministic algorithm for this problem. The competitive ratio is the best possible, apart from constant factors. In fact, this is the first O(log n)-competitive algorithm for the online hitting set problem that works for geometric objects of arbitrary sizes (i.e., unbounded scaling factors) in the plane. We further generalize this result to positive homothets of a polygon with k ≥ 3 vertices in the plane and provide an O(k²log n)-competitive algorithm.

Cite as

Minati De, Satyam Singh, and Csaba D. Tóth. Online Hitting Set for Axis-Aligned Squares. In 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 370, pp. 16:1-16:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{de_et_al:LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.16,
  author =	{De, Minati and Singh, Satyam and T\'{o}th, Csaba D.},
  title =	{{Online Hitting Set for Axis-Aligned Squares}},
  booktitle =	{20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-421-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{370},
  editor =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260528},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: axis-aligned squares, hitting set, homothets of a polygon, online algorithm}
}
Document
On the Parameterized Complexity of Min-Sum-Radii

Authors: Pankaj Kumar, Haiko Müller, Sebastian Ordyniak, and Melanie Schmidt

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 370, 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)


Abstract
In the Min-Sum-Radii (MSR) clustering problem, we are given a finite set X of n points in a metric space. The objective is to find at most k clusters centered at a subset of these points such that every point of X is assigned to one of the clusters, minimizing the sum of the radii of the clusters. The problem is known to be NP-hard even on metrics induced by weighted planar graphs and metrics with constant doubling dimension, as shown by Gibson et al. (SWAT 2008). In this work, we investigate the parameterized complexity of MSR on metrics induced by undirected graphs. We distinguish between weighted graph metrics (with positive edge weights) and unweighted graph metrics (where all edges have unit weight). Weighted Graph Metrics. We show that MSR is W[1]-hard on metrics induced by weighted bipartite graphs, when parameterized by the combined parameter k the number of clusters and Δ the cost of the clustering. We then investigate the structural parameterized complexity of the problem. Drexler et al. [doi:10.48550/arXiv.2310.02130] showed that the MSR problem admits an XP algorithm on metrics induced by weighted graphs when parameterized by treewidth, and asked whether this can be improved to fixed-parameter tractability. We first answer their question in the negative, and more strongly show that MSR stays W[1]-hard on metrics induced by undirected weighted bipartite graphs when parameterized by the vertex cover number plus k. We then turn our attention to parameters for dense graphs and show that MSR remains W[1]-hard when parameterized by k+Δ even on cliques and complete bipartite graphs. On the positive side, we employ the known XP algorithm parameterized by treewidth, to show that the MSR problem is FPT when parameterized by the parameter treewidth plus Δ. Together, these results provide a complete picture of the parameterized complexity of MSR with respect to any combination of parameters k, Δ, as well as structural parameters for sparse graphs above vertex cover and known parameters for dense graphs (such as neighborhood diversity and modular width). Unweighted Graph Metrics. The story is rather different for unweighted graphs, since it is a long standing open question whether MSR on metrics induced by undirected graphs is solvable in polynomial-time. Although we cannot answer this question, we provide classical and parameterized hardness results for two very closely related problems, namely Exact-MSR (MSR and one wants to find exactly k clusters) and Allowed-Centers-MSR (MSR with an additional set of allowed cluster centers). We also show that MSR as well as these two problems are fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the treedepth of the input graph.

Cite as

Pankaj Kumar, Haiko Müller, Sebastian Ordyniak, and Melanie Schmidt. On the Parameterized Complexity of Min-Sum-Radii. In 20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 370, pp. 26:1-26:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{kumar_et_al:LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.26,
  author =	{Kumar, Pankaj and M\"{u}ller, Haiko and Ordyniak, Sebastian and Schmidt, Melanie},
  title =	{{On the Parameterized Complexity of Min-Sum-Radii}},
  booktitle =	{20th Scandinavian Symposium on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2026)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-421-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{370},
  editor =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260623},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2026.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized complexity, Min-Sum-Radii clustering}
}
Document
Packing Compact Subgraphs with Applications to Districting

Authors: Ho-Lin Chen, Po-Yu Chou, Prathamesh Dharangutte, Jie Gao, Shang-En Huang, and Fang-Yi Yu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 368, 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)


Abstract
Packing disjoint subgraphs in a given graph is a fundamental problem with many applications. Motivated by political districting, we focus on connected subgraphs that are compact (e.g., having constant radius from a single center vertex) and that satisfy additional composition requirements, such as a minimum population/weight threshold or balanced weight types (e.g., political affiliations). We aim to maximize coverage by disjoint districts that meet these requirements. In this work, we present new results that substantially improve the previously known bounds on balanced star districts for planar and minor-free graphs [Prathamesh Dharangutte et al., 2025]. In particular, we improve the approximation factor from O(log n) to O(1) for packing balanced star districts using the exact same algorithm, but with a refined analysis. We also extend the results beyond planar graphs to minor-free graphs and an even broader family of graphs of bounded expansion. Additionally, we obtain an O(1) approximation for packing radius-k districts (with a constant k) in planar and apex-minor-free graphs. In order to get a (1+ε) approximation on the max coverage, we show that this can be achieved if we allow a slight relaxation of the balancedness parameters (by a factor that can be made arbitrarily close to 1), for bounded radius-k districts on planar and apex-minor-free graphs. We show that all of these results can also be obtained if we enforce a minimum weight threshold for each district as the composition requirement, rather than balancedness. We present various results on hardness and hardness of approximation for this variant, by graph and district types.

Cite as

Ho-Lin Chen, Po-Yu Chou, Prathamesh Dharangutte, Jie Gao, Shang-En Huang, and Fang-Yi Yu. Packing Compact Subgraphs with Applications to Districting. In 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 368, pp. 10:1-10:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2026.10,
  author =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Chou, Po-Yu and Dharangutte, Prathamesh and Gao, Jie and Huang, Shang-En and Yu, Fang-Yi},
  title =	{{Packing Compact Subgraphs with Applications to Districting}},
  booktitle =	{7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-419-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{368},
  editor =	{Lin, Huijia (Rachel)},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-259820},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation algorithms, algorithmic fairness}
}
Document
Serving Clients Fairly: On Facility Location and k-Median with Fair Outliers

Authors: Rajni Dabas, Samir Khuller, and Emilie Rivkin

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 368, 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)


Abstract
Classical clustering problems such as Facility Location and k-Median aim to efficiently serve a set of clients from a subset of facilities - minimizing the total cost of facility openings and client assignments in Facility Location, and minimizing assignment (service) cost under a facility count constraint in k-Median. These problems are highly sensitive to outliers, and therefore researchers have studied variants that allow excluding a small number of clients as outliers to reduce cost. However, in many real-world settings, clients belong to different demographic or functional groups, and unconstrained outlier removal can disproportionately exclude certain groups, raising fairness concerns, especially when the facilities correspond to critically needed facilities for emergencies such as fire stations, hospitals and other emergency services. We study Facility Location with Fair Outliers, where each group is allowed a specified number of outliers, and the objective is to minimize total cost while respecting group-wise fairness constraints. We present a bicriteria approximation with a O(1/ε) approximation factor and (1+ 2ε) factor violation in outliers per group. For k-Median with Fair Outliers, we design a bicriteria approximation with a 4(1+ω/ε) approximation factor and (ω + ε) violation in outliers per group improving on prior work by avoiding dependence on k in outlier violations. We also prove that the problems are W[1]-hard parameterized by ω. We complement our algorithmic contributions with a detailed empirical analysis, demonstrating that fairness can be achieved with negligible increase in cost and that the integrality gap of the standard LP is small in practice.

Cite as

Rajni Dabas, Samir Khuller, and Emilie Rivkin. Serving Clients Fairly: On Facility Location and k-Median with Fair Outliers. In 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 368, pp. 9:1-9:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{dabas_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2026.9,
  author =	{Dabas, Rajni and Khuller, Samir and Rivkin, Emilie},
  title =	{{Serving Clients Fairly: On Facility Location and k-Median with Fair Outliers}},
  booktitle =	{7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-419-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{368},
  editor =	{Lin, Huijia (Rachel)},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-259812},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation algorithms, fairness}
}
Document
Fair Multi-Agent Persuasion with Submodular Constraints

Authors: Yannan Bai, Kamesh Munagala, Yiheng Shen, and Davidson Zhu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 368, 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)


Abstract
We study the problem of selection in the context of Bayesian persuasion. We are given multiple agents with hidden values (or quality scores), to whom resources must be allocated by a welfare-maximizing decision-maker. An intermediary with knowledge of the agents' values seeks to influence the outcome of the selection by designing informative signals and providing tie-breaking policies, so that when the receiver maximizes welfare over the resulting posteriors, the expected utilities of the agents (where utility is defined as allocation times value) achieve certain fairness properties. The fairness measure we will use is majorization, which simultaneously approximately maximizes all symmetric, monotone, concave functions of the utilities. We consider the general setting where the allocation to the agents needs to respect arbitrary submodular constraints, as given by the corresponding polymatroid. We present a signaling policy that achieves a logarithmically approximate majorized policy in this setting, assuming the receiver is a (1+ε) approximate welfare maximizer. The approximation ratio is almost best possible, and that significantly outperforms generic results that only yield linear approximations. A key component of our result is a structural characterization showing that the vector of agent utilities for a given signaling policy defines the base polytope of a different polymatroid, a result that may be of independent interest. In addition, we show that an arbitrarily good additive approximation to this vector can be produced in (weakly) polynomial time via the multiplicative weights update method.

Cite as

Yannan Bai, Kamesh Munagala, Yiheng Shen, and Davidson Zhu. Fair Multi-Agent Persuasion with Submodular Constraints. In 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 368, pp. 14:1-14:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bai_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2026.14,
  author =	{Bai, Yannan and Munagala, Kamesh and Shen, Yiheng and Zhu, Davidson},
  title =	{{Fair Multi-Agent Persuasion with Submodular Constraints}},
  booktitle =	{7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-419-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{368},
  editor =	{Lin, Huijia (Rachel)},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-259872},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: Bayesian Persuasion, Fair Division, Submodular Optimization}
}
Document
On Computing the (Exact) Fréchet Distance with a Frog

Authors: Jacobus Conradi, Ivor van der Hoog, and Eva Rotenberg

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 367, 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)


Abstract
The continuous Fréchet distance 𝒟_F(π,σ) between two polygonal curves π and σ is classically computed by exploring the free space diagram over the two curves. [SoCG'25] recently proposed a radically different approach: they approximate 𝒟_F(π,σ) by computing paths in a discrete graph that models a joint traversal of π and σ, recursively bisecting edges until the discrete distance converges to the continuous one. They implement their "frog-based" technique, and claim that it yields substantial practical speedups compared to the state-of-the-art implementations. In this paper, we revisit this technique. We observe that, in its current form, it has three limitations: (i) it does not use exact arithmetic, (ii) its recursive bisection introduces the required monotonicity events to realise the Fréchet distance only in the limit, and (iii) it applies a heuristic simplification technique which is overly conservative. Motivated by theoretical interest, we develop new techniques that guarantee exactness, polynomial-time convergence and near-optimal lossless simplifications. We provide an open-source C++ implementation of our variant. Our primary contribution is an extensive empirical evaluation on a broad, publically available, suite of real-world and synthetic data sets. Among the frog-based variants, exact computation indeed introduces overhead and increases median runtime. Yet, our new approach is often faster in the worst case, worst ten percent, or even the average runtime due to its worst-case convergence guarantees. More surprisingly, the implementation of [SoCG'19] dominates all frog-based implementations in performance - this finding contrasts previously published claims. These results provide a much-needed nuanced perspective on the capabilities and limitations of frog-based techniques: we showcase its theoretical appeal, but highlight its limited practical feasibility.

Cite as

Jacobus Conradi, Ivor van der Hoog, and Eva Rotenberg. On Computing the (Exact) Fréchet Distance with a Frog. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 35:1-35:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{conradi_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.35,
  author =	{Conradi, Jacobus and van der Hoog, Ivor and Rotenberg, Eva},
  title =	{{On Computing the (Exact) Fr\'{e}chet Distance with a Frog}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{35:1--35:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.35},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258414},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.35},
  annote =	{Keywords: Algorithms engineering, Fr\'{e}chet distance}
}
Document
FPT Approximations for Capacitated Sum of Radii and Diameters

Authors: Arnold Filtser and Ameet Gadekar

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 367, 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)


Abstract
The Capacitated Sum of Radii problem involves partitioning a set of points P, where each point p ∈ P has capacity U_p, into k clusters that minimize the sum of cluster radii, such that the number of points in the cluster centered at point p is at most U_p. We begin by showing that the problem is APX-hard, and that under gap-ETH there is no parameterized approximation scheme (FPT-AS). We then construct a ≈5.83-approximation algorithm in FPT time (improving a previous ≈7.61 approximation in FPT time). Our results also hold when the objective is a general monotone symmetric norm of radii. We also improve the approximation factors for the uniform capacity case, and for the closely related problem of Capacitated Sum of Diameters.

Cite as

Arnold Filtser and Ameet Gadekar. FPT Approximations for Capacitated Sum of Radii and Diameters. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 48:1-48:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{filtser_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.48,
  author =	{Filtser, Arnold and Gadekar, Ameet},
  title =	{{FPT Approximations for Capacitated Sum of Radii and Diameters}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{48:1--48:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.48},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258545},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.48},
  annote =	{Keywords: clustering, sum of radii, sum of diameter, capacitated clustering, fpt}
}
Document
Clustering in Varying Metrics

Authors: Deeparnab Chakrabarty, Jonathan Conroy, and Ankita Sarkar

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 360, 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)


Abstract
We introduce the aggregated clustering problem, where one is given T instances of a center-based clustering task over the same n points, but under different metrics. The goal is to open k centers to minimize an aggregate of the clustering costs - e.g., the average or maximum - where the cost is measured via k-center/median/means objectives. More generally, we minimize a norm Ψ over the T cost values. We show that for T ≥ 3, the problem is inapproximable to any finite factor in polynomial time. For T = 2, we give constant-factor approximations. We also show W[2]-hardness when parameterized by k, but obtain f(k,T)poly(n)-time 3-approximations when parameterized by both k and T. When the metrics have structure, we obtain efficient parameterized approximation schemes (EPAS). If all T metrics have bounded ε-scatter dimension, we achieve a (1+ε)-approximation in f(k,T,ε)poly(n) time. If the metrics are induced by edge weights on a common graph G of bounded treewidth tw, and Ψ is the sum function, we get an EPAS in f(T,ε,tw)poly(n,k) time. Conversely, unless (randomized) ETH is false, any finite factor approximation is impossible if parametrized by only T, even when the treewidth is tw = Ω(polylog n).

Cite as

Deeparnab Chakrabarty, Jonathan Conroy, and Ankita Sarkar. Clustering in Varying Metrics. In 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 360, pp. 19:1-19:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{chakrabarty_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.19,
  author =	{Chakrabarty, Deeparnab and Conroy, Jonathan and Sarkar, Ankita},
  title =	{{Clustering in Varying Metrics}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251007},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Clustering, approximation algorithms, LP rounding, parameterized and exact algorithms, dynamic programming, fixed parameter tractability, hardness of approximation}
}
Document
Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering

Authors: Sina Bagheri Nezhad, Sayan Bandyapadhyay, and Tianzhi Chen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)


Abstract
In a seminal work, Chierichetti et al. [Chierichetti et al., 2017] introduced the (t,k)-fair clustering problem: Given a set of red points and a set of blue points in a metric space, a clustering is called fair if the number of red points in each cluster is at most t times and at least 1/t times the number of blue points in that cluster. The goal is to compute a fair clustering with at most k clusters that optimizes certain objective function. Considering this problem, they designed a polynomial-time O(1)- and O(t)-approximation for the k-center and the k-median objective, respectively. Recently, Carta et al. [Carta et al., 2024] studied this problem with the sum-of-radii objective and obtained a (6+ε)-approximation with running time O((k log_{1+ε}(k/ε))^k n^O(1)), i.e., fixed-parameter tractable in k. Here n is the input size. In this work, we design the first polynomial-time O(1)-approximation for (t,k)-fair clustering with the sum-of-radii objective, improving the result of Carta et al. Our result places sum-of-radii in the same group of objectives as k-center, that admit polynomial-time O(1)-approximations. This result also implies a polynomial-time O(1)-approximation for the Euclidean version of the problem, for which an f(k)⋅n^O(1)-time (1+ε)-approximation was known due to Drexler et al. [Drexler et al., 2023]. Here f is an exponential function of k. We are also able to extend our result to any arbitrary 𝓁 ≥ 2 number of colors when t = 1. This matches known results for the k-center and k-median objectives in this case. The significant disparity of sum-of-radii compared to k-center and k-median presents several complex challenges, all of which we successfully overcome in our work. Our main contribution is a novel cluster-merging-based analysis technique for sum-of-radii that helps us achieve the constant-approximation bounds.

Cite as

Sina Bagheri Nezhad, Sayan Bandyapadhyay, and Tianzhi Chen. Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 62:1-62:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bagherinezhad_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62,
  author =	{Bagheri Nezhad, Sina and Bandyapadhyay, Sayan and Chen, Tianzhi},
  title =	{{Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation for Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245309},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: fair clustering, sum-of-radii clustering, approximation algorithms}
}
Document
Subtrajectory Clustering and Coverage Maximization in Cubic Time, or Better

Authors: Jacobus Conradi and Anne Driemel

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)


Abstract
Many application areas collect unstructured trajectory data. In subtrajectory clustering, one is interested to find patterns in this data using a hybrid combination of segmentation and clustering. We analyze two variants of this problem based on the well-known SetCover and CoverageMaximization problems. In both variants the set system is induced by metric balls under the Fréchet distance centered at polygonal curves. Our algorithms focus on improving the running time of the update step of the generic greedy algorithm by means of a careful combination of sweeps through a candidate space. In the first variant, we are given a polygonal curve P of complexity n, distance threshold Δ and complexity bound 𝓁 and the goal is to identify a minimum-size set of center curves 𝒞, where each center curve is of complexity at most 𝓁 and every point p on P is covered. A point p on P is covered if it is part of a subtrajectory π_p of P such that there is a center c ∈ 𝒞 whose Fréchet distance to π_p is at most Δ. We present an approximation algorithm for this problem with a running time of 𝒪((n²𝓁 + √{k_Δ}n^{5/2})log²n), where k_Δ is the size of an optimal solution. The algorithm gives a bicriterial approximation guarantee that relaxes the Fréchet distance threshold by a constant factor and the size of the solution by a factor of 𝒪(log n). The second problem variant asks for the maximum fraction of the input curve P that can be covered using k center curves, where k ≤ n is a parameter to the algorithm. For the second problem variant, our techniques lead to an algorithm with a running time of 𝒪((k+𝓁)n²log²n) and similar approximation guarantees. Note that in both algorithms k,k_Δ ∈ O(n) and hence the running time is cubic, or better if k ≪ n.

Cite as

Jacobus Conradi and Anne Driemel. Subtrajectory Clustering and Coverage Maximization in Cubic Time, or Better. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 12:1-12:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{conradi_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.12,
  author =	{Conradi, Jacobus and Driemel, Anne},
  title =	{{Subtrajectory Clustering and Coverage Maximization in Cubic Time, or Better}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244806},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Clustering, Set cover, Fr\'{e}chet distance, Approximation algorithms}
}
Document
Near-Optimal Differentially Private Graph Algorithms via the Multidimensional AboveThreshold Mechanism

Authors: Laxman Dhulipala, Monika Henzinger, George Z. Li, Quanquan C. Liu, A. R. Sricharan, and Leqi Zhu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)


Abstract
Many differentially private and classical non-private graph algorithms rely crucially on determining whether some property of each vertex meets a threshold. For example, for the k-core decomposition problem, the classic peeling algorithm iteratively removes a vertex if its induced degree falls below a threshold. The sparse vector technique (SVT) is generally used to transform non-private threshold queries into private ones with only a small additive loss in accuracy. However, a naive application of SVT in the graph setting leads to an amplification of the error by a factor of n due to composition, as SVT is applied to every vertex. In this paper, we resolve this problem by formulating a novel generalized sparse vector technique which we call the Multidimensional AboveThreshold (MAT) Mechanism which generalizes SVT (applied to vectors with one dimension) to vectors with multiple dimensions. When applied to vectors with n dimensions, we solve a number of important graph problems with better bounds than previous work. Specifically, we apply our MAT mechanism to obtain a set of improved bounds for a variety of problems including k-core decomposition, densest subgraph, low out-degree ordering, and vertex coloring. We give a tight local edge differentially private (LEDP) algorithm for k-core decomposition that results in an approximation with O(ε^{-1} log n) additive error and no multiplicative error in O(n) rounds. We also give a new (2+η)-factor multiplicative, O(ε^{-1} log n) additive error algorithm in O(log² n) rounds for any constant η > 0. Both of these results are asymptotically tight against our new lower bound of Ω(log n) for any constant-factor approximation algorithm for k-core decomposition. Our new algorithms for k-core decomposition also directly lead to new algorithms for the related problems of densest subgraph and low out-degree ordering. Finally, we give novel LEDP differentially private defective coloring algorithms that use number of colors given in terms of the arboricity of the graph.

Cite as

Laxman Dhulipala, Monika Henzinger, George Z. Li, Quanquan C. Liu, A. R. Sricharan, and Leqi Zhu. Near-Optimal Differentially Private Graph Algorithms via the Multidimensional AboveThreshold Mechanism. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 91:1-91:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{dhulipala_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.91,
  author =	{Dhulipala, Laxman and Henzinger, Monika and Li, George Z. and Liu, Quanquan C. and Sricharan, A. R. and Zhu, Leqi},
  title =	{{Near-Optimal Differentially Private Graph Algorithms via the Multidimensional AboveThreshold Mechanism}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{91:1--91:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.91},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245601},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.91},
  annote =	{Keywords: differential privacy, abovethreshold, densest subgraph}
}
Document
APPROX
Covering Simple Orthogonal Polygons with Rectangles

Authors: Aniket Basu Roy

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)


Abstract
We study the problem of Covering Orthogonal Polygons with Rectangles, focusing on three variants: covering the interior, the boundary, and the corners. While previous work provided constant-factor approximation algorithms for these problems, significant improvements had not been achieved for over two decades. The main contribution of this work is the development of a Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (PTAS) for both the Boundary Cover and Corner Cover problems on simple polygons, using a local search algorithm. Our work advances the state of the art, improving upon the previous best-known 4-approximation for the Boundary Cover and 2-approximation for the Corner Cover problems. The technical core of our work lies in proving the existence of planar support graphs for certain geometric hypergraphs defined by the polygon and its containment-maximal rectangles. This structural insight enables the application of the local search framework to achieve the PTAS results. We also demonstrate the limitations of this approach by constructing instances where local search fails for the Interior Cover and certain dual problems, such as the Maximum Antirectangle and Hitting Set problems. Additionally, the methods yield a PTAS for a special case of the Discrete Independent Set problem for rectangles. These results not only settle longstanding open questions but also introduce new techniques that may be of independent interest within computational geometry.

Cite as

Aniket Basu Roy. Covering Simple Orthogonal Polygons with Rectangles. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 2:1-2:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{basuroy:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.2,
  author =	{Basu Roy, Aniket},
  title =	{{Covering Simple Orthogonal Polygons with Rectangles}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243686},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Polygon Covering, Approximation Algorithms, Orthogonal Polygons, Rectangles, Local Search, Planar Supports}
}
Document
APPROX
Directed Buy-At-Bulk Spanners

Authors: Elena Grigorescu, Nithish Kumar, and Young-San Lin

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)


Abstract
We present a framework that unifies directed buy-at-bulk network design and directed spanner problems, namely, buy-at-bulk spanners. The goal is to find a minimum-cost routing solution for network design problems that captures economies at scale, while satisfying demands and distance constraints for terminal pairs. A more restricted version of this problem was shown to be O(2^{log^{1-ε} n})-hard to approximate, where n is the number of vertices, under a standard complexity assumption, by Elkin and Peleg (Theory of Computing Systems, 2007). Our results for buy-at-bulk spanners are the following. - When the edge lengths are integral with magnitude polynomial in n we present: 1) An Õ(n^{4/5 + ε})-approximation polynomial-time randomized algorithm for uniform demands. 2) An Õ(k^{1/2 + ε})-approximation polynomial-time randomized algorithm for general demands, where k is the number of terminal pairs. This can be improved to an Õ(k^{ε})-approximation algorithm for the single-source problem. The same approximation ratios hold in the online setting. - When the edge lengths are rational and well-conditioned, we present an Õ(k^{1/2 + ε})-approximation polynomial-time randomized algorithm that may slightly violate the distance constraints. The result can be improved to an Õ(k^ε)-approximation algorithm for the single-source problem. The same approximation ratios hold for the online setting when the condition number is given in advance. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first sublinear factor approximation algorithms for directed buy-at-bulk spanners. We allow the edge lengths to be negative and the demands to be non-unit, unlike the previous literature. Our approximation ratios match the state-of-the-art ratios in special cases, namely, buy-at-bulk network design by Antonakopoulos (WAOA, 2010) and (online) weighted spanners by Grigorescu, Kumar, and Lin (APPROX 2023). Furthermore, we improve the competitive ratio for online buy-at-bulk by Chakrabarty, Ene, Krishnaswamy, and Panigrahi (SICOMP, 2018) by a factor of log R, where R is the ratio between the maximum demand and the minimum demand.

Cite as

Elena Grigorescu, Nithish Kumar, and Young-San Lin. Directed Buy-At-Bulk Spanners. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 22:1-22:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{grigorescu_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.22,
  author =	{Grigorescu, Elena and Kumar, Nithish and Lin, Young-San},
  title =	{{Directed Buy-At-Bulk Spanners}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243885},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: buy-at-bulk spanners, minimum density junction tree, resource constrained shortest path}
}
Document
APPROX
Improved FPT Approximation for Sum of Radii Clustering with Mergeable Constraints

Authors: Sayan Bandyapadhyay and Tianzhi Chen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)


Abstract
In this work, we study k-min-sum-of-radii (k-MSR) clustering under mergeable constraints. k-MSR seeks to group data points using a set of up to k balls, such that the sum of the radii of the balls is minimized. A clustering constraint is called mergeable if merging two clusters satisfying the constraint, results in a cluster that also satisfies the constraint. Many popularly studied constraints are mergeable, including fairness constraints and lower bound constraints. In our work, we design a (4+ε)-approximation for k-MSR under any given mergeable constraint with runtime 2^{O(k/(ε)⋅log²k/ε)} n⁴, i.e., fixed-parameter tractable in k for constant ε. Our result directly improves upon the FPT (6+ε)-approximation by Carta et al. [Carta et al., 2024]. We also provide a hardness result that excludes the exact solvability of k-MSR under any given mergeable constraint in time f(k)n^o(k), assuming ETH is true.

Cite as

Sayan Bandyapadhyay and Tianzhi Chen. Improved FPT Approximation for Sum of Radii Clustering with Mergeable Constraints. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 23:1-23:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bandyapadhyay_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.23,
  author =	{Bandyapadhyay, Sayan and Chen, Tianzhi},
  title =	{{Improved FPT Approximation for Sum of Radii Clustering with Mergeable Constraints}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243894},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: sum-of-radii clustering, mergeable constraints, approximation algorithm}
}
Document
Approximation and Parameterized Algorithms for Covering with Disks of Two Types of Radii

Authors: Sayan Bandyapadhyay and Eli Mitchell

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 349, 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)


Abstract
We study the Discrete Covering with Two Types of Radii problem motivated by its application in wireless networks. In this problem, the goal is to assign either small-range high frequency or large-range low frequency to each access point, maximizing the number of users in high-frequency regions while ensuring that each user is in the range of an access point. Unlike other weighted covering problems, our problem requires satisfying two simultaneous objectives, which calls for novel approaches that leverage the underlying geometry of the problem. In our work, we present two new algorithms: the first is a polynomial-time (2.5 + ε)-approximation, and the second is an exact algorithm for sparse instances, which is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) in the number of large-radius disks. We also prove that such an FPT algorithm is impossible for general instances lacking sparsity, assuming the Exponential Time Hypothesis. Before our work, the best-known polynomial-time approximation factor was 4 for the problem. Our approximation algorithm results from a fine-grained classification of points that can contribute to the gain of a solution. Based on this classification, we design two sub-algorithms with interdependent guarantees to recover the respective class of points as gain. Our algorithm exploits further properties of Delaunay triangulations to achieve the improved bound. The FPT algorithm is based on branching that utilizes the sparsity of the instances to limit the overall search space.

Cite as

Sayan Bandyapadhyay and Eli Mitchell. Approximation and Parameterized Algorithms for Covering with Disks of Two Types of Radii. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 7:1-7:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{bandyapadhyay_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.7,
  author =	{Bandyapadhyay, Sayan and Mitchell, Eli},
  title =	{{Approximation and Parameterized Algorithms for Covering with Disks of Two Types of Radii}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-398-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{349},
  editor =	{Morin, Pat and Oh, Eunjin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242386},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: Covering, Disks, Approximation, FPT}
}
  • Refine by Type
  • 33 Document/PDF
  • 25 Document/HTML

  • Refine by Publication Year
  • 7 2026
  • 18 2025
  • 3 2023
  • 3 2020
  • 2 2016

  • Refine by Author
  • 8 Munagala, Kamesh
  • 3 Bandyapadhyay, Sayan
  • 3 Im, Sungjin
  • 3 Taylor, Erin
  • 3 van der Hoog, Ivor
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Series/Journal
  • 33 LIPIcs

  • Refine by Classification
  • 8 Theory of computation → Computational geometry
  • 5 Theory of computation → Design and analysis of algorithms
  • 5 Theory of computation → Facility location and clustering
  • 4 Theory of computation → Approximation algorithms analysis
  • 3 Theory of computation → Fixed parameter tractability
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Keyword
  • 5 Approximation algorithms
  • 4 Approximation Algorithms
  • 4 Clustering
  • 4 Fréchet distance
  • 3 approximation algorithms
  • Show More...

Any Issues?
X

Feedback on the Current Page

CAPTCHA

Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted to Dagstuhl Publishing

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail