Lesson plan

Karger's algorithm

In computer science and graph theory, Karger's algorithm is a randomized algorithm to compute a minimum cut of a connected graph. It was invented by David Karger and first published in 1993. The idea of the algorithm is based on the concept of contraction of an edge (u, v) in an undirected graph G = (V, E) . Informally, the contraction of an edge merges the nodes u and v into one, reducing the total number of nodes of the graph by one. All other edges connecting either u or v are "reattached" to the merged node, effectively producing a multigraph. Karger's basic algorithm iteratively contracts randomly chosen edges until only two nodes remain; those nodes represent a cut in the original graph. By iterating this basic algorithm a sufficient number of times, a minimum cut can be found with high probability.

Back to article

Article summary

In computer science and graph theory, Karger's algorithm is a randomized algorithm to compute a minimum cut of a connected graph. It was invented by David Karger and first published in 1993. The idea of the algorithm is based on the concept of contraction of an edge (u, v) in an undirected graph G = (V, E) . Informally, the contraction of an edge merges the nodes u and v into one, reducing the total number of nodes of the graph by one. All other edges connecting either u or v are "reattached" to the merged node, effectively producing a multigraph. Karger's basic algorithm iteratively contracts randomly chosen edges until only two nodes remain; those nodes represent a cut in the original graph. By iterating this basic algorithm a sufficient number of times, a minimum cut can be found with high probability.

Key claims

  1. publication date: 1993 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "1993". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1352634526

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.