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HW 08

This homework assignment has 3 problems related to algorithms on graphs and networks. Students are instructed to show their work on separate sheets of paper with their name and ID. The problems can be worked on in groups of up to 3 students. Problem 1 involves classifying nodes in a flow network as upstream, downstream, or central based on minimum cuts. Problem 2 involves finding augmenting paths in residual networks and using this to compute maximum flow. Problem 3 involves questions about edge-disjoint paths in directed graphs.

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54 views2 pages

HW 08

This homework assignment has 3 problems related to algorithms on graphs and networks. Students are instructed to show their work on separate sheets of paper with their name and ID. The problems can be worked on in groups of up to 3 students. Problem 1 involves classifying nodes in a flow network as upstream, downstream, or central based on minimum cuts. Problem 2 involves finding augmenting paths in residual networks and using this to compute maximum flow. Problem 3 involves questions about edge-disjoint paths in directed graphs.

Uploaded by

misiyak112
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HW 8 (due Tuesday, at noon, November 4, 2014)

CS 473: Fundamental Algorithms, Fall 2014 Version: 1.01

Make sure that you write the solutions for the problems on separate sheets of paper. Write your
name and netid on each sheet.
Collaboration Policy: The homework can be worked in groups of up to 3 students each.

1. (30 pts.) The good, the bad, and the middle.


uppose you’re looking at a flow network G with source s and sink t, and you want to be
able to express something like the following intuitive notion: Some nodes are clearly on the
“source side” of the main bottlenecks; some nodes are clearly on the “sink side” of the main
bottlenecks; and some nodes are in the middle. However, G can have many minimum cuts, so
we have to be careful in how we try making this idea precise.
Here’s one way to divide the nodes of G into three categories of this sort.
• We say a node v is upstream if, for all minimum s-t cuts (A, B), we have v ∈ A – that
is, v lies on the source side of every minimum cut.
• We say a node v is downstream if, for all minimum s-t cuts (A, B), we have v ∈ B –
that is, v lies on the sink side of every minimum cut.
• We say a node v is central if it is neither upstream nor downstream; there is at least
one minimum s-t cut (A, B) for which v ∈ A, and at least one minimum s-t cut (A0 , B 0 )
for which v ∈ B 0 .
Give an algorithm that takes a flow network G and classifies each of its nodes as being up-
stream, downstream, or central. (Hint: The running time of your algorithm should be within
a constant factor of the time required to compute a single maximum flow.)
2. (40 pts.) Augmenting Paths in Residual Networks.
You are given an integral instance G of network flow. Let C be the value of the maximum
flow in G.
(A) (8 pts.) Given a flow f in G, and its residual network Gf , describe how to compute,
as fast as possible, the highest capacity augmenting path flow from s to t. Prove the
correctness of your algorithm.
(B) (8 pts.) Prove, that if the maximum flow in Gf has value T , then the augmenting path
you found in (A) has capacity at least T /m.
(C) (8 pts.) Consider the algorithm that starts with the empty flow f , and repeatedly applies
(A) to Gf (recomputing it after each iteration) until s and t are disconnected. Prove that
this algorithm computes the maximum flow in G.
(D) (8 pts.) Consider the algorithm from (C), and the flow g it computes after m iterations.
Prove that |g| >= C/10 (here 10 is not tight).
(E) (8 pts.)Give a bound, as tight as possible, on the running time of your algorithm, as a
function of n, m, and C.
3. (30 pts.) Edge-Disjoint Paths.
You are given a directed graph G = (V, E) and a natural number k.
(A) We can define a relation →G,k on pairs of vertices of G as follows. If x, y ∈ V we say that
x →G,k y if there exist k mutually edge disjoint paths from x to y in G. Is it true that

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for every G and every k ≥ 0 the relation →G,k is transitive? That is, is it always the case
that if x →G,k y and y →G,k z then we have x →G,k z? Give a proof or a counterexample.
(B) Suppose that for each node v of G the number of edges into v is equal to the number of
edges out of v. Let x, y be two nodes and suppose there exist k mutually edge-disjoint
paths from x to y. Does it follow that there exist k mutually disjoint paths from y to x?
Give a proof or a counterexample.

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