The existence of the permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of an atom impl
ies the simultaneous violation of parity and time-reversal symmetries. Two
experiments based on laser cooling have been proposed to search for the EDM
of atomic ytterbium. We propose three different relativistic many-body app
roaches to calculate the EDM of atoms with strongly interacting configurati
ons. Two of them are based on the configuration-interaction method and the
third is an algebraic many-body perturbation theory that explicitly uses co
nfiguration state functions. We use these three approaches to calculate the
EDM of atomic ytterbium. arising from an electron-nucleus tensor-pseudoten
sor interaction. The results of these calculations are in excellent agreeme
nt with each other.