Why it matters

Bitmask DP handles many combinatorial problems.

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The architecture

State: bitmask (which elements used).

Transition: try each unused element.

Bitmask DPBitmask statesubset as intTransitionsadd/remove elementAux stateadditional infoTSP: O(n² · 2^n) via bitmask DP
Bitmask DP structure.
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How it works end to end

Classic: TSP with n up to 20-25. State: (bitmask, last city).

Set cover variants.

Assignment problems.