Algorithms and Combinatorics Volume 21 Editorial Board Ronald Graham Bernhard Korte László Lovász Avi Wigderson William J. Cook Günter M. Ziegler For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/13 • Bernhard Korte Jens Vygen Combinatorial Optimization Theory and Algorithms Fifth Edition 123 Bernhard Korte Jens Vygen University of Bonn Research Institute for Discrete Mathematics Lennéstr. 2 53113 Bonn Germany
[email protected] [email protected] Algorithms and Combinatorics ISSN 0937-5511 ISBN 978-3-642-24487-2 e-ISBN 978-3-642-24488-9 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-24488-9 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011945680 Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 90C27, 68R10, 05C85, 68Q25 c Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2012 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface to the Fifth Edition When preparing the first edition of this book, more than ten years ago, we tried to accomplish two objectives: it should be useful as an advanced graduate textbook, but also as a reference work for research.