number of bins used, subject to the constraint that each bin be filled to at least a given
threshold, is considered. Approximation algorithms are presented that provide guarantees of
1 2, 2 3, and 3 4 the optimal number, at running time costs of O (n), O (nlogn), and O (nlog 2
n), respectively, and the average case behavior of these algorithms is explored via empirical
tests on randomly generated sets of items.