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Sorting by Prefix Block-Interchanges (2008.13640v1)
Published 31 Aug 2020 in cs.DS
Abstract: We initiate the study of sorting permutations using prefix block-interchanges, which exchange any prefix of a permutation with another non-intersecting interval. The goal is to transform a given permutation into the identity permutation using as few such operations as possible. We give a 2-approximation algorithm for this problem, show how to obtain improved lower and upper bounds on the corresponding distance, and determine the largest possible value for that distance.