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Tractability in constraint satisfaction problems: a survey

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Abstract

Even though the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) is NP-complete, many tractable classes of CSP instances have been identified. After discussing different forms and uses of tractability, we describe some landmark tractable classes and survey recent theoretical results. Although we concentrate on the classical CSP, we also cover its important extensions to infinite domains and optimisation, as well as #CSP and QCSP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, LAAS, 7 avenue du colonel Roche, 31400, Toulouse, France

    Clément Carbonnel

  2. University of Toulouse, INP Toulouse, LAAS, 31400, Toulouse, France

    Clément Carbonnel

  3. IRIT, University of Toulouse III, 31062, Toulouse, France

    Martin C. Cooper

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  1. Clément Carbonnel
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  2. Martin C. Cooper
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Correspondence to Martin C. Cooper.

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Supported by ANR Project ANR-10-BLAN-0210 and EPSRC grant EP/L021226/1.

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Carbonnel, C., Cooper, M.C. Tractability in constraint satisfaction problems: a survey. Constraints 21, 115–144 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10601-015-9198-6

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