Bipartite Matching
Bipartite matching is a combinatorial optimization problem in graph theory where the goal is to find a maximum matching in a bipartite graph. A bipartite graph is one whose vertices can be divided into two disjoint sets such that every edge connects a vertex from one set to a vertex from the other set. A matching is a set of edges without common vertices, and the maximum matching is the largest possible such set.
Developers should learn bipartite matching for solving assignment problems, such as job scheduling, resource allocation, or network flow optimization, where tasks need to be paired with resources efficiently. It is particularly useful in algorithm design for competitive programming, operations research, and applications like matching drivers to riders in ride-sharing apps or students to projects in educational systems.