Approximating Satisfiable Satisfiability Problems

We study the approximability of the Maximum Satisfiability Problem (MAX SAT) and of the boolean k -ary Constraint Satisfaction Problem (MAX k CSP) restricted to satisfiable instances. For both problems we improve on the performance ratios of known algorithms for the unrestricted case. Our approximation for satisfiable MAX 3CSP instances is better than any possible approximation for the unrestricted version of the problem (unless P=NP). This result implies that the requirement of perfect completeness weakens the acceptance power of non-adaptive PCP verifiers that read 3 bits. We also present the first non-trivial results about PCP classes defined in terms of free bits that collapse to P. Received August 1997; revised February 1999.