

Packing algorithms could save the planet - jganetsk
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16716-recordbreaking-algorithm-really-packs-them-in.html

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ivankirigin
simulated annealing is really old, and sounds like a similar effect:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_annealing>

Though explicitly representing back-steps in a search is an interesting idea.
It doubles the order of complexity, which will result in the square root of
the depth available.

