A Seemingly Polynomial-Time Algorithm for Optimal Curve Fitting by Segmented Straight Lines

We consider least-squares approximation of a function of one variable by a continuous, piecewise-linear approximand that has a small number of breakpoints. This problem was notably considered by Bellman who proposed an approximate algorithm based on dynamic programming. Many suboptimal approaches have been suggested, but so far, the only exact methods resort to mixed integer programming with superpolynomial complexity growth. In this paper, we present an exact and efficient algorithm based on dynamic programming with a hybrid value function. Empirical evidence suggest that the algorithm has a polynomial time complexity.