Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Palais, Léo Colisson, Dumas, Jean-Guillaume, Galan, Alexis, Grenet, Bruno, Maignan, Aude
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.21423
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866914289924702208
author Palais, Léo Colisson
Dumas, Jean-Guillaume
Galan, Alexis
Grenet, Bruno
Maignan, Aude
author_facet Palais, Léo Colisson
Dumas, Jean-Guillaume
Galan, Alexis
Grenet, Bruno
Maignan, Aude
contents We consider stamps with different values (denominations) and same dimensions, and an envelope with a fixed maximum number of stamp positions. The local postage stamp problem is to find the smallest value that cannot be realized by the sum of the stamps on the envelope. The global postage stamp problem is to find the set of denominations that maximize that smallest value for a fixed number of distinct denominations. The local problem is NP-hard and we propose here a novel algorithm that improves on both the time complexity bound and the amount of required memory. We also propose a polynomial approximation algorithm for the global problem together with its complexity analysis. Finally we show that our algorithms allow to improve secure multi-party computations on sets via a more efficient homomorphic evaluation of polynomials on ciphered values.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_21423
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Algorithms for the local and the global postage stamp problem
Palais, Léo Colisson
Dumas, Jean-Guillaume
Galan, Alexis
Grenet, Bruno
Maignan, Aude
Data Structures and Algorithms
We consider stamps with different values (denominations) and same dimensions, and an envelope with a fixed maximum number of stamp positions. The local postage stamp problem is to find the smallest value that cannot be realized by the sum of the stamps on the envelope. The global postage stamp problem is to find the set of denominations that maximize that smallest value for a fixed number of distinct denominations. The local problem is NP-hard and we propose here a novel algorithm that improves on both the time complexity bound and the amount of required memory. We also propose a polynomial approximation algorithm for the global problem together with its complexity analysis. Finally we show that our algorithms allow to improve secure multi-party computations on sets via a more efficient homomorphic evaluation of polynomials on ciphered values.
title Algorithms for the local and the global postage stamp problem
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.21423