Big Step Greedy Algorithm for Maximum Coverage Problem

Abstract

This paper proposes a greedy heuristic named as Big step greedy heuristic and investigates the application of Big step greedy heuristic for maximum k-coverage problem. Greedy algorithms construct the solution in multiple steps, the classical greedy algorithm for maximum k-coverage problem, in each step selects one set that contains the greatest number of uncovered elements. The Big step greedy heuristic, in each step selects p (1 <= p <= k) sets such that the union of selected p sets contains the greatest number of uncovered elements by evaluating all possible p-combinations of given sets. When p=k Big step greedy algorithm behaves like exact algorithm that computes optimal solution by evaluating all possible k-combinations of given sets. When p=1 it behaves like the classical greedy algorithm.