# General auction method for real-valued optimal transport

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.06379 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.06379/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 18 May 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [New Auction Algorithms for Path Planning, Network Transport, and Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.09588/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Optimal transportation theory is an area of mathematics with real-world applications in fields ranging from economics to optimal control to machine learning. We propose a new algorithm for solving discrete transport (network flow) problems, based on classical auction methods. Auction methods were originally developed as an alternative to the Hungarian method for the assignment problem, so the classic auction-based algorithms solve integer-valued optimal transport by converting such problems into assignment problems. The general transport auction method we propose works directly on real-valued transport problems. Our results prove termination, bound the transport error, and relate our algorithm to the classic algorithms of Bertsekas and Castanon.