Single-Source Shortest-Paths on Arbitrary Directed Graphs in Linear Average-Case Time
Ulrich Meyer · 2001
The quest for a linear-time single-source shortest-path (SSSP) algorithm on directed graphs with positive edge weights is an ongoing hot research topic. While Thorup recently found an O(n + m) time RAM algorithm for undirected graphs with n nodes, m edges and integer edge weights in f0; : : : ; 2 w 1g where w denotes the word length, the currently best time bound for directed sparse graphs on a RAM is O(n + m log log n). In the present paper we study the average-case complexity of SSSP. We give a simple algorithm for arbitrary directed graphs with random edge weights uniformly distributed in [0; 1] and show that it needs linear time O(n + m) with high probability. 1 Introduction The single-source shortest-path problem (SSSP) is a fundamental and well-studied combinatorial optimization problem with many practical and theoretical applications [1]. Let G = (V; E) be a directed graph, jV j = n, jEj = m, let s be a distinguished vertex of the graph, and c be a function assigning a n...