Maximum flow problem

In optimization theory, maximum flow problems involve finding a feasible flow through a single-source, single-sink flow network that is maximum.

The maximum flow problem can be seen as a special case of more complex network flow problems, such as the circulation problem. The maximum value of an s-t flow (i.e., flow from source s to sink t) is equal to the minimum capacity of an s-t cut (i.e., cut severing s from t) in the network, as stated in the max-flow min-cut theorem.

The maximum flow problem was first formulated in 1954 by T. E. Harris and F. S. Ross as a simplified model of Soviet railway traffic flow. In 1955, Lester R. Ford, Jr. and Delbert R. Fulkerson created the first known algorithm, the Ford–Fulkerson algorithm.

Over the years, various improved solutions to the maximum flow problem were discovered, notably the shortest augmenting path algorithm of Edmonds and Karp and independently Dinitz; the blocking flow algorithm of Dinitz; the push-relabel algorithm of Goldberg and Tarjan; and the binary blocking flow algorithm of Goldberg and Rao. The electrical flow algorithm of Christiano, Kelner, Madry, and Spielman finds an approximately optimal maximum flow but only works in undirected graphs.

Let ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle N=(V,E)}$ be a network with ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle s,t\in V}$ being the source and the sink of ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle N}$ respectively.

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