""" ************** Graph Matching ************** Given a graph G = (V,E), a matching M in G is a set of pairwise non-adjacent edges; that is, no two edges share a common vertex. `Wikipedia: Matching `_ """ import networkx as nx __all__ = ["min_maximal_matching"] def min_maximal_matching(G): r"""Returns the minimum maximal matching of G. That is, out of all maximal matchings of the graph G, the smallest is returned. Parameters ---------- G : NetworkX graph Undirected graph Returns ------- min_maximal_matching : set Returns a set of edges such that no two edges share a common endpoint and every edge not in the set shares some common endpoint in the set. Cardinality will be 2*OPT in the worst case. Notes ----- The algorithm computes an approximate solution fo the minimum maximal cardinality matching problem. The solution is no more than 2 * OPT in size. Runtime is $O(|E|)$. References ---------- .. [1] Vazirani, Vijay Approximation Algorithms (2001) """ return nx.maximal_matching(G)