Fully polynomial-time approximation scheme (FPTAS)

A Fully Polynomial-Time Approximation Scheme (FPTAS) is an algorithm for solving complex optimization problems where finding the exact best solution is too time-consuming. It produces a solution that’s close enough to optimal within a specified margin of error, called ε. Importantly, an FPTAS can do this efficiently, with the time it takes growing reasonably with both the size of the problem and the inverse of ε. This means you can get high-quality solutions quickly, even for large problems, by choosing an acceptable level of approximation.