Suggest a real-world problem in which only the best solution will do. Then come up with one in which “approximately” the best solution is good enough.
Real-world problems where only the best solution will do:
Problem: Flight Scheduling for Emergency Medical Transport
Description: In emergency medical situations, where time is critical, an organization is tasked with scheduling flights to transport medical supplies, organs for transplant, or medical teams to remote locations. The goal is to minimize the time from dispatch to arrival. Precision and minimizing delays are crucial in such cases, and only the best solution in terms of the shortest possible flight time and optimal scheduling will suffice.
Real-world problems where approximately the best solution is good enough:
Problem: Resource Allocation in Cloud Computing
Description: In a cloud computing environment, multiple users share resources such as virtual machines and storage. Allocating resources optimally to satisfy every user's demand while minimizing costs is a complex problem. However, achieving an optimal solution might be impractical due to the dynamic nature of resource demands and the scale of the system. In this scenario, an approximately optimal solution that balances resource usage efficiently and meets the performance requirements of most users may be acceptable, as achieving absolute optimality might be computationally expensive and unnecessary in a rapidly changing environment.