This is a newly enlarged and updated second edition of a widely used text, an authoritative explication of combinatorial algorithms common in computer sci-ence and operations research. Stressing intuitive ideas and numerical examples for each algorithm, the authors present algorithms for shortest paths, maximum flows, dynamic programming, and backtracking. Also discussed are binary trees, heuristic and near optimums, matrix multiplication, and NP-complete problems.

This new edition has been updated with an appendix and two new chapters:Chapter 9 shows how to mix known algorithms and create new ones, while Chapter 10 presents an interesting and extremely useful algorithm named "Chop-Sticks," used to obtain all minimum cuts in an undirected network without applying tradi-tional maximum flow techniques. This algorithm, which took seven years of research and should have wide applications in many fields, has led to a new math-ematical specialty-"network algebra" (a generalization of Boolean algebra).

The text assumes no background in linear programming or advanced data struc-ture, and most of the material is suitable for undergraduates. It will be particularly useful to students in computer science, mathematics, and operations research; and because it contains much material not available elsewhere, it can also serve as a valuable reference.