Computational Complexity
The problem is NP-hard, so there is no known algorithm for solving this problem in polynomial time, and even small instances may require long computation time. The Travelling salesman problem may be seen as a special case of QAP if one assumes that the flows connect all facilities only along a single ring, all flows have the same non-zero (constant) value. Many other problems of standard combinatorial optimization problems may be written in this form.
Read more about this topic: Quadratic Assignment Problem
Famous quotes containing the word complexity:
“The price we pay for the complexity of life is too high. When you think of all the effort you have to put in—telephonic, technological and relational—to alter even the slightest bit of behaviour in this strange world we call social life, you are left pining for the straightforwardness of primitive peoples and their physical work.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)