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How can you perform the clique decision algorithm fewer than $ O(n) $ times to solve clique optimization?

I'm not sure if my approach is right but this is my thought process: you would pick vertices in a graph and see if they form a clique, then keep picking more vertices until you have the max possible clique.

I'm not sure how it can be done less than $ O(n) $ times.

I can imagine an undirected graph such as:

undirected graph

where $ \{A, B, C\} $ and $ \{B, C, D\} $ would be cliques. The number of vertices is 4, and the number of vertices in the cliques is 3, which is $ n - 1 $. Would this count as being done in less than $ O(n) $ times, or is this the wrong approach to this problem?

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    $\begingroup$ $n - 1$ is not less than $O(n)$. A function $f(n)$ is less than $O(n)$ if $f(n)/n \rightarrow 0$. In your case, $(n-1)/n \rightarrow 1$. $\endgroup$
    – Yuval Filmus
    Nov 30, 2012 at 21:21

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You would use binary search. Start with the lower bound being 3 and the upper bound $n$, where $n$ is the number of vertices. Call your clique decision oracle with a $k$ value halfway between the two bounds. If it answers "yes", move your lower bound to $k + 1$. If it answers "no", move your upper bound down to $k - 1$. Repeat until you have found the largest $k$ value the oracle answers "yes" to. It should take $O(\log n)$ calls to the oracle.

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  • $\begingroup$ How did you decide that the lower bound should be 3? $\endgroup$
    – badjr
    Nov 30, 2012 at 21:17
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    $\begingroup$ @deezy If the graph has any edges at all, then it contains a 2-clique, so I didn't see any point in using the oracle for that. But 2 would work as well as 3. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Jones
    Nov 30, 2012 at 22:47

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