The Power of Algorithms

Part I  Finding One's Way in a World of Algorithms.- Chap. 1  Algorithms: An Historical Perspective.- Chap. 2  How to Design an Algorithm.- Chap. 3  The One Million Dollars Problem.- Part II  The Difficult Simplicity of Daily Life.- Chap. 4  The Quest for the Shortest Route.- Chap. 5  Web Search.- Chap. 6  Algorithms for Secure Communication.- Chap. 7  Algorithmics for the Life Sciences.- Chap. 8  The Shortest Walk to Watch TV.- Chap. 9  Algorithms for Auctions and Games.- Chap. 10  Randomness and Complexity.

Giorgio Ausiello is Professor Emeritus in the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica, Automatica e Gestionale, Università di Roma "La Sapienza". He has coauthored numerous formal academic journal and conference publications, and his book publications include the Springer title "Complexity and Approximation" published in 2000. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the leading journal Elsevier journal "Theoretical Computer Science", Part A, and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Springer LNCS series "Advanced Research in Computing and Software Science". He has chaired many related conferences and research groups, and he was a founding member of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS), and its President from 2006 to 2009. His main research interests include on-line algorithms, approximation algorithms, dynamic graph algorithms, optimization problems in vehicle routing and logistics, and streaming algorithms; he has also researched and published on programming theorys, computational complexity, and database theory.

Rossella Petreschi is Professor in the Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", where she was a founding faculty member and the director from 2003 to 2009. She cofounded the International Conference on Algorithms and Complexity (CIAC), and she coauthored many formal academic journal and conference publications. Her research interests include algorithm design and analysis, parallel and distributed computing, efficient solutions of graph problems, labelled tree encodings, and frequency assignments in wireless networks. She has also researched and published on graph drawing, interconnection topologies and experimental algorithmics. Many of her former students occupy key positions in industry and research.

"This is a valuable book that introduces the reader into the history, developments, and methodology of algorithms. It is a good source for teachers giving algorithm course to students majoring in fields other than computer science or mathematics. Its language, style and outlook is appealing also for any non-academic person who want to obtain some inspiration for the age of computers." (Péter Hajnal, Acta Scientiarum Mathematicarum, Vol. 81 (3-4), 2015)

"The book starts with the ancient and medieval history of algorithms, and finishes with a dialog on randomness in problem solving. For each topic, the key problems are presented and the accepted algorithms are described. ... this book belongs in all college libraries and CS faculty may like a copy beside their classic algorithms texts." (Richard Botting, Computing Reviews, April, 2014)