'This book covers the dominant theoretical approaches to the approximate solution of hard combinatorial optimization and enumeration problems. It contains elegant combinatorial theory, useful and interesting algorithms, and deep results about the intrinsic complexity of combinatorial problems. Its clarity of exposition and excellent selection of exercises will make it accessible and appealing to all those with a taste for mathematics and algorithms' - Richard Karp, University Professor, University of California at Berkeley. Following the development of basic combinatorial optimization techniques in the 1960s and 1970s, a main open question was to develop a theory of approximation algorithms. In the 1990s, parallel developments in techniques for designing approximation algorithms as well as methods for proving hardness of approximation results have led to a beautiful theory. The need to solve truly large instances of computationally hard problems, such as those arising from the Internet or the human genome project, has also increased interest in this theory. The field is currently very active, with the toolbox of approximation algorithm design techniques getting always richer. It is a pleasure to recommend Vijay Vazirani's well-written and comprehensive book on this important and timely topic. "I am sure the reader will find it most useful both as an introduction to approximability as well as a reference to the many aspects of approximation algorithms' - Laszlo Lovasz, Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research.

设施选址问题是经典的NP-难解问题之一，在运筹学、计算机科学和管理科学中有着广泛的应用。徐大川等编著的《设施选址问题的近似算法》介绍了设施选址问题及其变形的近似算法。主要内容包括：无容量限制的设施选址问题的线性规划舍入算法、无容量限制的设施选址问题的原始对偶算法、无容量限制的设施选址问题的局部搜索算法、有容量限制的设施选址问题、k层设施选址问题、凹设施选址问题、不确定设施选址问题、设施选址问题的其他变形等。
《设施选址问题的近似算法》可作为运筹学、计算机科学、管理科学和应用数学专业的高年级本科生和研究生的教材和参考书，亦可供相关研究领域科研人员参考。