patternMinor
Effect of increasing the capacity of an edge in a flow network with known max flow
Viewed 0 times
effecttheflowwithcapacityedgemaxincreasingknownnetwork
Problem
I need your help with an exercise on Ford-Fulkerson.
Suppose you are given a flow network with capacities $(G,s,t)$ and you are also given the max flow $|f|$ in advance.
Now suppose you are given an arc $e$ in $G$ and suppose this arc's capacity is increased by one.
Give an efficent algorithm which returns true iff the increase of the capacity of the arc $e$ will allow an increase in the max flow.
I suppose we shouldn't run Ford-Fulkerson again but somehow use the given $|f|$… Any ideas how?
Suppose you are given a flow network with capacities $(G,s,t)$ and you are also given the max flow $|f|$ in advance.
Now suppose you are given an arc $e$ in $G$ and suppose this arc's capacity is increased by one.
Give an efficent algorithm which returns true iff the increase of the capacity of the arc $e$ will allow an increase in the max flow.
I suppose we shouldn't run Ford-Fulkerson again but somehow use the given $|f|$… Any ideas how?
Solution
I am assuming that you are given the flow on each edge which corresponds to the maximum flow for the graph $G$. So $f_e$ is the flow on edge $e$.
I am also assuming that all the capacities and flows values are integral.
Now given this information, capacity of an edge $e$ is increased by 1. Therefore, the mincut value can increase by at most 1 implying that the maxflow can increase by at most 1.
Thus, find the residual graph and check if there is an augmenting path $P$ from $s$ to $t$. If such a $P$ exists, then increase your maxflow by augmenting this path, otherwise the current flow is still the maximum.
I am also assuming that all the capacities and flows values are integral.
Now given this information, capacity of an edge $e$ is increased by 1. Therefore, the mincut value can increase by at most 1 implying that the maxflow can increase by at most 1.
Thus, find the residual graph and check if there is an augmenting path $P$ from $s$ to $t$. If such a $P$ exists, then increase your maxflow by augmenting this path, otherwise the current flow is still the maximum.
Context
StackExchange Computer Science Q#12703, answer score: 4
Revisions (0)
No revisions yet.