The expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is a powerful computational technique for locating maxima of functions. It is widely used in statistics for maximum likelihood or maximum a posteriori ...

Approximation algorithms for the TSP endeavour to provide efficient, near‐optimal solutions where exact methods prove computationally prohibitive.

In practice, the actual approximation factor is far better; we provide a specific example by generating a nearly-optimal inter-league tournament for the 30-team National Basketball Association, with ...