Bin packing problems are a class of NP-hard combinatorial optimisation challenges with wide-ranging applications in logistics, manufacturing, cloud computing and scheduling. The fundamental task is to ...

Can we ever really trust algorithms to make decisions for us? Previous research has proved these programs can reinforce society’s harmful biases, but the problems go beyond that. A new study shows how ...

Right now, quantum computers are small and error-prone compared to where they’ll likely be in a few years. Even within those limitations, however, there have been regular claims that the hardware can ...

In 1994, a mathematician figured out how to make a quantum computer do something that no ordinary classical computer could. The work revealed that, in principle, a machine based on the rules of ...

Graph cover problems form a critical area within discrete optimisation and theoretical computer science, addressing the challenge of selecting subsets of vertices (or edges) that satisfy predetermined ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. For computer scientists, solving problems is a bit like mountaineering. First they must choose a problem to solve—akin to identifying a ...

For a retailer, it’s extremely useful to know whether a customer will be back or has abandoned you for good. Starting in the late 1980s, academic researchers began to develop sophisticated predictive ...