An Improved Algorithm for Incremental Cycle Detection and Topological Ordering in Sparse Graphs
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We consider the problem of incremental cycle detection and topological ordering in a directed graph G = (V, E) with |V| = n nodes. In this setting, initially the edge-set E of the graph is empty. Subsequently, at each time-step an edge gets inserted into G. After every edge-insertion, we have to report if the current graph contains a cycle, and as long as the graph remains acyclic, we have to maintain a topological ordering of the node-set V. Let m be the total number of edges that get inserted into G. We present a randomized algorithm for this problem with Õ(m^4/3) total expected update time.
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