Greedy Algorithms8 sections · 316 units
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Wrong Approach 3 - Fewest Conflicts

Why it fails

Greedy by fewest conflicts: always pick the activity that conflicts with the fewest others. This sounds clever but is hard to implement efficiently and can still fail.

Example: construct activities where the low-conflict activity sits in the middle and blocks the actual optimal selection. The core idea: conflict count does not capture what matters. What matters is leaving room for future activities. Counting conflicts requires checking all pairs, which is expensive.