Difference between revisions of "Open Problems:74"
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For this problem, it turns out the most space-efficient data structure is a graph which preserves the value of the function we wish to query. | For this problem, it turns out the most space-efficient data structure is a graph which preserves the value of the function we wish to query. | ||
| − | But is this the case for all such functions on graphs, or is there a case where another | + | But is this the case for all such functions on graphs, or is there a (natural) case where another — potentially complicated — data structure could out-perform a graph? |
Revision as of 18:09, 12 January 2016
| Suggested by | Robert Krauthgamer |
|---|---|
| Source | Baltimore 2016 |
| Short link | https://sublinear.info/74 |
Given an undirected graph $G = (V,E_G)$ with weight function $w_G$, one may wish to design a data structure to store the value of the minimum $s-t$ cut, for any $s,t \in V$. A naive method is to construct a table containing the value for each pair, requiring $O(|V|^2)$ space. Alternatively, one may construct a Gomory-Hu tree [GomoryHu-61]. This is an undirected tree $T = (V,E_T)$ with weight function $w_T$, such that the minimum $s-t$ cut values from $G$ are preserved. Since $T$ is a tree, it requires only $O(|V|)$ space.
For this problem, it turns out the most space-efficient data structure is a graph which preserves the value of the function we wish to query. But is this the case for all such functions on graphs, or is there a (natural) case where another — potentially complicated — data structure could out-perform a graph?
