NOTE – On Minimizing Symmetric Set Functions

u, v

) of nodes such that the star of v is a minimum cut separating u and v. Nagamochi and Ibaraki showed that the last two nodes of a ``max-back order'' form such a pair and used this fact to develop an elegant min-cut algorithm. M. Queyranne extended this approach to minimize symmetric submodular functions. With the help of a short and simple proof, here we show that the same algorithm works for an even more general class of set functions.