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European Symposium on Algorithms

ESA 1994: Algorithms — ESA '94 pp 141–147Cite as

A simple min cut algorithm

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 855))

Abstract

We present an algorithm for finding the minimum cut of an edge-weighted graph. It is simple in every respect. It has a short and compact description, is easy to implement and has a surprisingly simple proof of correctness. Its runtime matches that of the fastest algorithm known. The runtime analysis is straightforward. In contrast to nearly all approaches so far, the algorithm uses no flow techniques. Roughly speaking the algorithm consists of about ¦V¦ nearly identical phases each of which is formally similar to Prim's minimum spanning tree algorithm.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Telecom Research, P. O. Box 83, N-2007, Kjeller

    Mechthild Stoer

  2. Institut für Informatik, Fachbereich Mathematik und Informatik, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustraße 9, 14195, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany

    Frank Wagner

Authors
  1. Mechthild Stoer
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  2. Frank Wagner
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Editor information

Jan van Leeuwen

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Stoer, M., Wagner, F. (1994). A simple min cut algorithm. In: van Leeuwen, J. (eds) Algorithms — ESA '94. ESA 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 855. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0049404

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0049404

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-58434-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48794-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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