Approximation factor shorthand clarification

Question

I'm starting to dabble in the world of approximation algorithms and had a question about the convention many papers will use when talking about the approximation factor. I know that an approximation factor will give the factor within which the algorithm will perform with respect to the optimal solution. This is pretty easy to grasp for things like a 2-factor approximation. I've also seen other literature and lecture notes refer to $1-1/\epsilon$ when giving the probability and/or percentage of the optimal that will be returned (or, put another way, how "much" of the optimal an approximation algorithm will, well, approximate).

But I've seen some papers (like Linear-Time Approximation for Maximum Weight Matching ) refer to a $1-\epsilon$ approximation ratio. For example:

we give an algorithm that computes a (1 − ε)-approximate maximum weight matching

So my question is: are they referring to the $1-1/\epsilon$ ratio that I've been seeing elsewhere? Apologies if this is a simplistic question, I'm just getting starting in learning about these very-cool algorithms and am trying to get my head around which papers are presenting things that are extraordinary vs. not as competitive compared to the optimal solution. Thank you!

Answer 1

That article, Linear-Time Approximation for Maximum Weight Matching calls "a matching $\delta$-approximate, where $\delta \in [0, 1]$, if its weight is at least a factor $\delta$ of the optimum matching."

That $\delta$-approximate maximum weight is, in fact, similar to the 2-factor approximation that is easy for you to grasp. When the optimization problem is to minimize some (positive) quantity, such as the minimum traveling distance or minimum vertex cover, then a 2-factor approximate might appear. When the optimization problem is to maximize some (positive) quantity, such as the case here, then a $(1-\frac15)$-factor approximate might be expected.

You may want to take a look at the performance guarantees of approximation algorithm or even what is a bicriteria approximation algorithm?