A Combinatorial Algorithm Minimizing Submodular Functions in Strongly Polynomial Time

We give a strongly polynomial-time algorithm minimizing a submodular function f given by a value-giving oracle. The algorithm does not use the ellipsoid method or any other linear programming method. No bound on the complexity of the values of f is needed to be known a priori. The number of oracle calls is bounded by a polynomial in the size of the underlying set.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2000
• Where: JCT
• Authors: Alexander Schrijver
• Keywords: Ellipsoid Method, JCT 2000, Linear Programming Method, Polynomial-time Algorithm