Back Tracking Vs. Greedy Algorithm Maximum Independent Set - performance

Question

I implemented a back tracing algorithm using both a greedy algorithm and a back tracking algorithm.
The back tracking algorithm is as follows:
MIS(G= (V,E): a graph): largest set of independent vertices
1:if|V|= 0
then return .
3:end if
if | V|= 1
then return V
end if
pick u ∈ V
Gout←G−{u}{remove u from V and E }
Gn ← G−{ u}−N(u){N(u) are the neighbors of u}
Sout ←MIS(Gout)
Sin←MIS(Gin)∪{u}
return maxsize(Sout,Sin){return Sin if there’s a tie — there’s a reason for this.
}
The greedy algorithm is to iteratively pick the node with the smallest degree, place it in the MIS and then remove it and its neighbors from G.
After running the algorithm on varying graph sizes where the probability of an edge existing is 0.5, I have empirically found that the back tracking algorithm always found a smaller a smaller maximum independent set than the greedy algorithm. Is this expected?

Answer 1

Your solution is strange. Backtracking is usually used to yes/no problems, not optimization. The algorithm you wrote depends heavily on how you pick u. And it definitely is not backtracking because you never backtrack.
Such problem can be solved in a number of ways, e.g.:
genetic programming,
exhaustive searching,
solving the problem on dual graph (maximum clique problem).

Answer 2

According to Wikipedia, this is a NP-hard problem:
A maximum independent set is an independent set of the largest possible size for a given graph G.
This size is called the independence number of G, and denoted α(G).
The problem of finding such a set is called the maximum independent set problem and is an NP-hard optimization problem.
As such, it is unlikely that there exists an efficient algorithm for finding a maximum independent set of a graph.
So, for finding the maximum independent set of a graph, you should test all available states (with an algorithm which its time complexity is exponential). All other faster algorithms (like greedy, genetic or randomize ones), can not find the exact answer. They can guarantee to find a maximal independent set, but not the maximum one.
In conclusion, I can say that your backtracking approach is slower and accurate; but the greedy approach is only an approximation algorithm.