Paths, Trees, and Flowers

Abstract

A graph G for purposes here is a finite set of elements called vertices and a finite set of elements called edges such that each edge meets exactly two vertices, called the end-points of the edge. An edge is said to join its end-points. A matching in G is a subset of its edges such that no two meet the same vertex. We describe an efficient algorithm for finding in a given graph a matching of maximum cardinality. This problem was posed and partly solved by C. Berge; see Sections 3.7 and 3.8.