Improved approximation algorithms for minimum AND-circuits problem via k-set cover

Arpe and Manthey [J. Arpe, B. Manthey, Approximability of minimum AND-circuits, Algorithmica 53 (3) (2009) 337–357] recently studied the minimum AND-circuit problem, which is a circuit minimization problem, and showed some results including approximation algorithms, APX-hardness and fixed parameter tractability of the problem. In this note, we show that algorithms via the k-set cover problem yield improved approximation ratios for the minimum AND-circuit problem with maximum degree three. In particular, we obtain an approximation ratio of 1.199 for the problem with maximum degree three and unbounded multiplicity.

Research highlights
► We give improved approximation algorithms for the minimum AND-circuits problem.
► The improved approximation ratio is 1.199 for maximum degree three.
► Our algorithms use an algorithm for k-set cover.