Inclusion-Exclusion and Network Reliability

Based on a recent improvement of the inclusion-exclusion principle, we present a new approach to network reliability problems. In particular, we give a new proof of a result of Shier, which expresses the reliability of a network as an alternating sum over chains in a semilattice, and a new proof of a result of Provan and Ball, which provides an algorithm for computing network reliability in pseudopolynomial time. Moreover, some results on k-out-of-n systems are established.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 1998
• Where: COMBINATORICS
• Authors: Klaus Dohmen
• Keywords: COMBINATORICS 1998, Inclusion-exclusion Principle, Network Reliability, Reliability Problems