Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP)

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a challenge in optimization where the goal is to find the shortest possible route that visits a set of locations exactly once and returns to the starting point. Imagine a salesperson needing to visit multiple cities efficiently; TSP seeks the most cost-effective path that covers all destinations without unnecessary travel. While simple to state, solving TSP becomes very complex as the number of locations increases, requiring advanced algorithms to find near-optimal solutions within reasonable timeframes. It has applications in logistics, planning, and network design.