A new upper bound on the work function algorithm for the k-server problem

Wenming Zhang () and Yongxi Cheng ()
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Wenming Zhang: Northwest University
Yongxi Cheng: Xi’an Jiaotong University

Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, 2020, vol. 39, issue 2, No 12, 509-518

Abstract: Abstract The k-server problem was introduced by Manasse et al. (in: Proceedings of the 20th annual ACM symposium on theory of computing, Chicago, Illinois, USA, pp 322–333, 1988), and is one of the most famous and well-studied online problems. Koutsoupias and Papadimitriou (J ACM 42(5):971–983, 1995) showed that the work function algorithm (WFA) has a competitive ratio of at most $$2k-1$$2k-1 for the k-server problem. In this paper, by proposing a potential function that is different from the one in Koutsoupias and Papadimitriou (1995), we show that the WFA has a competitive ratio of at most $$n-1$$n-1, where n is the number of points in the metric space. When $$n

Keywords: Competitive analysis; k-server problem; On-line algorithms; Work function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/s10878-019-00493-z

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