Understanding Kempe Algorithm for Traveling Salesman Problem

Kempe is a term used in the context of the Kempe algorithm, which is a method for solving the traveling salesman problem (TSP). The TSP is a well-known problem in computer science and operations research that involves finding the shortest possible tour that visits a set of cities and returns to the starting point.

The Kempe algorithm is a heuristic algorithm that was developed by John Kempe in 1972. It works by iteratively adding edges to a current tour, always choosing the edge that connects two nodes that have not been visited yet. The algorithm starts with an empty tour and adds edges one at a time until all nodes have been visited.

Kempe is used as a heuristic method for solving TSP because it is relatively simple to implement and can be efficient for small instances of the problem. However, it is not guaranteed to find the optimal solution and may not perform well for larger instances of the problem.