Department of Mathematics
Searching for the Shortest Network
Ron Graham
University of California at San Diego
Suppose you are given some set of cities and you would like to connect them all together with a network with the shortest possible length. How hard is it to find such a short network? This classical problem has challenged mathematicians for nearly two centuries, and today has great relevance in such diverse areas as telecommunication networks, design of VLSI chips and molecular phylogenetics. In this talk we will summarize past accomplishments, present activities and future challenges in this fascinating topic.
All interested persons are welcome.