This book contains a collection of survey papers in the areas of algorithms, lan guages and complexity, the three areas in which Professor Ronald V. Book has made significant contributions. As a fonner student and a co-author who have been influenced by him directly, we would like to dedicate this book to Professor Ronald V. Book to honor and celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Professor Book initiated his brilliant academic career in 1958, graduating from Grinnell College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He obtained a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in 1960 and a Master of Arts degree in 1964 both from Wesleyan University, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University in 1969, under the guidance of Professor Sheila A. Greibach. Professor Book's research in discrete mathematics and theoretical com puter science is reflected in more than 150 scientific publications. These works have made a strong impact on the development of several areas of theoretical computer science. A more detailed summary of his scientific research appears in this volume separately."

This book is intended to be used as a textbook for graduate students studying theoretical computer science. It can also be used as a reference book for researchers in the area of design and analysis of approximation algorithms. Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms is a graduate course in theoretical computer science taught widely in the universities, both in the United States and abroad. There are, however, very few textbooks available for this course. Among those available in the market, most books follow a problem-oriented format; that is, they collected many important combinatorial optimization problems and their approximation algorithms, and organized them based on the types, or applications, of problems, such as geometric-type problems, algebraic-type problems, etc. Such arrangement of materials is perhaps convenient for a researcher to look for the problems and algorithms related to his/her work, but is difficult for a student to capture the ideas underlying the various algorithms. In the new book proposed here, we follow a more structured, technique-oriented presentation. We organize approximation algorithms into different chapters, based on the design techniques for the algorithms, so that the reader can study approximation algorithms of the same nature together. It helps the reader to better understand the design and analysis techniques for approximation algorithms, and also helps the teacher to present the ideas and techniques of approximation algorithms in a more unified way.

This book contains a collection of survey papers in the areas of algorithms, lan guages and complexity, the three areas in which Professor Ronald V. Book has made significant contributions. As a fonner student and a co-author who have been influenced by him directly, we would like to dedicate this book to Professor Ronald V. Book to honor and celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Professor Book initiated his brilliant academic career in 1958, graduating from Grinnell College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He obtained a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in 1960 and a Master of Arts degree in 1964 both from Wesleyan University, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University in 1969, under the guidance of Professor Sheila A. Greibach. Professor Book's research in discrete mathematics and theoretical com puter science is reflected in more than 150 scientific publications. These works have made a strong impact on the development of several areas of theoretical computer science. A more detailed summary of his scientific research appears in this volume separately."