Difference between revisions of "Open Problems:74"

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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 $s,t \in V$.
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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.
 
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 {{cite|GomoryHu-61}}.
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Alternatively, one may construct a Gomory–Hu tree {{cite|GomoryH-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.
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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.
 
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.
 
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?
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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 22:01, 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 [GomoryH-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?