Clustering, Randomness, and Regularity: Spatial Distributions and Human Performance on the Traveling Salesperson Problem and Minimum Spanning Tree Problem

Autor/inn/en	Dry, Matthew J.; Preiss, Kym; Wagemans, Johan
Titel	Clustering, Randomness, and Regularity: Spatial Distributions and Human Performance on the Traveling Salesperson Problem and Minimum Spanning Tree Problem
Quelle	In: Journal of Problem Solving, 4 (2012) 1, S.1-17, Artikel 2 (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1932-6246
DOI	10.7771/1932-6246.1117
Schlagwörter	Problem Solving; Mathematical Applications; Graphs; Performance; Stimuli; Comparative Analysis; Foreign Countries; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Problemlösen; Angewandte Mathematik; Innermathematische Anwendung; Grafische Darstellung; Achievement; Leistung; Anreizsystem; Ausland; Australien
Abstract	We investigated human performance on the Euclidean Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP) and Euclidean Minimum Spanning Tree Problem (MST-P) in regards to a factor that has previously received little attention within the literature: the spatial distributions of TSP and MST-P stimuli. First, we describe a method for quantifying the relative degree of clustering, randomness or regularity within point distributions. We then review evidence suggesting this factor might influence human performance on the two problem types. Following this we report an experiment in which the participants were asked to solve TSP and MST-P test stimuli that had been generated to be either highly clustered, random, or highly regular. The results indicate that for both the TSP and MST-P the participants tended to produce better quality solutions when the stimuli were highly clustered compared to random, and similarly, better quality solutions for random compared to highly regular stimuli. It is suggested that these results provide support for the ideas that human solvers attend to salient clusters of nodes when solving these problems, and that a similar process (or series of processes) may underlie human performance on these two tasks. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01