Re: What I learned from Class Viewer

On Jul 20, 8:08 am, Patricia Shanahan <p...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
rossum wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:04:52 -0700 (PDT), JSH <jst...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Like look at my Traveling Salesman Problem solution.
How can it be a solution if there are instances of the TSP which it
cannot solve?  At best you have a partial solution.

If it is correct, how many researchers in this area are suddenly
displaced by such a trivially easy algorithm?
"If it is correct ..."  Do not get ahead of yourself James.  First you
need to have a correct solution.  Start by amending your initial
attempt so it can deal with Patricia's example that your current
algorithm cannot solve.

I get the impression that his algorithm is not intended to handle that
case. If so, it is not a solution to the problem researchers have been
working on under the name "Traveling Salesman". It may be a solution to
some other problem, possibly one of the restricted forms of TSP.

The first step is to precisely define the problem it is designed to
solve. Only JSH can do that.

I went the extra mile of working an example with 4 nodes which was the
simplest I could think of, where you could have alternate paths.

My algorithm did in fact pick the proper path, given an answer with
paths only, as the distance information dropped away.

My algorithm can be used against any TSP type problem, even if only a
single weight is given and no distance information between nodes is
given, by simply assuming that the weight is a distance between nodes
and graphing the nodes on a two-dimensional plane.

Until that is done it is impossible to know, for example, whether or not
he is solving a problem whose decision form is NP-complete. It is also
impossible to evaluate correctness without knowing what problem the
algorithm is intended to solve.

Patricia

I worked an example so that people can see how the idea works.

There isn't anything more I can do besides the general explanation,
with the idea of a backwards traveler going back in time for people
who like the wordy explanation, a more formalized explanation with
symbols and variables AND a worked example showing the simplest case
possible where the algorithm is stepped through to give a solution.

There is nothing more that can be done when people obstinately refuse
to be reasonable.

I've done my best, as I've often done before, which is why I rely on
objective measures people can't take away from me, like my Class
Viewer program.

I live in a world that doesn't like answers if I'm the person who
gives them.

That is my weight to bear. A weight often born by people like me,
often hated in our own times.


James Harris
.

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