MinCostFlow

# MinCostFlow - EXTENSIONS OF THE MAXFLOW PROBLEM. 10A....

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EXTENSIONS OF THE MAXFLOW PROBLEM. 10A. Circulations with Demands. Suppose we have multiple sources and sinks, instead of a single s-t pair. Rather than maximize the total flow (which can be tricky to agree on due to fairness among different flows), we work with a *fixed* set of demands and supplies. Each node v has an associated demand dv. If dv > 0, we say v is a demand node; if dv = 0, v is a transshipment node; if dv < 0, v is a supply node (it supplies -dv units). A circulation is a function f such that (i) Capacity Constraint: 0 <= f(e) <= c(e), for all edges e (ii) Demand Condition: fin(v) - fout(v) = dv, for all nodes v So, instead of *optimization*, we now have a feasibility problem (satisfying demands at all nodes subject to capacity constraints). Clearly, if a feasible circulation exists then \sum_v dv = 0. This is because \sum_v (dv) = \sum_v ( fin(v) - fout(v) ). In the summation on the right, each edge appears twice, once in fin and once in fout, canceling each other. Algorithm. We convert the circulation problem into a flow problem. Introduce a source s, and join it to all supply nodes, with edge capacity equal to -dv. Similarly, add a sink node t, and join each demand node to t, with edge capacity dv. Now, the circulation is feasible if and only if the maxflow has value exactly \sum_{v demand node} dv. Example. 10B. Circulation with Demands and Lower Bounds. In some applications, certain amount of flow is forced on some edges. That is, f(e) >= l(e), and so there is a lower bound on the value of flow at some edges. The conditions for the flow, with demands, now change to: (i) l(e) <= f(e) <= c(e), for all edges e (ii) fin(v) - fout(v) = dv, for all nodes v. Now, again, decide if such a circulation is feasible. We will do this in two steps. I. First, solve for the circulation *without* any lower bounds. That is, we set an initial circulation of f_0(e) = l(e), for all edges. This circulation clearly satisfies the capacity constraint (both upper and lower bounds), but perhaps violates the demands. In particular, let L(v) = f_0^in (v) - f_0^out (v) = \sum_{e into v} l(e) - \sum_{v out of v} l(e).

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If L(v) = dv, we have satisfied the demand at v. Otherwise, we need to *superimpose* another circulation that Will clear the imbalance introduced by f_0. So, we need to find a circulation f_1, where for node v,
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## This note was uploaded on 12/27/2011 for the course CMPSC 225 taught by Professor Vandam during the Fall '09 term at UCSB.

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MinCostFlow - EXTENSIONS OF THE MAXFLOW PROBLEM. 10A....

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