RCM
Reverse Cuthill McKee Ordering

RCM is a C++ library which computes the reverse Cuthill McKee ("RCM") ordering of the nodes of a graph.

The RCM ordering is frequently used when a matrix is to be generated whose rows and columns are numbered according to the numbering of the nodes. By an appropriate renumbering of the nodes, it is often possible to produce a matrix with a much smaller bandwidth.

The bandwidth of a matrix is computed as the maximum bandwidth of each row of the matrix. The bandwidth of a row of the matrix is essentially the number of matrix entries between the first and last nonzero entries in the row, with the proviso that the diagonal entry is always treated as though it were nonzero.

This library includes a few routines to handle the common case where the connectivity can be described in terms of a triangulation of the nodes, that is, a grouping of the nodes into sets of 3-node or 6-node triangles. The natural description of a triangulation is simply a listing of the nodes that make up each triangle. The library includes routines for determining the adjacency structure associated with a triangulation, and the test problems include examples of how the nodes in a triangulation can be relabeled with the RCM permutation.

Here is a simple example of how reordering can reduce the bandwidth. In our first picture, we have nine nodes:

           5--7--6
           |  | /
        4--8--2
        |  |  |
        9--1--3
      

        * . 1 . . . . 1 1
        . * 1 . . 1 1 1 .
        1 1 * . . . . . .
        . . . * . . . 1 1
        . . . . * . 1 1 .
        . 1 . . . * 1 . .
        . 1 . . 1 1 * . .
        1 1 . 1 1 . . * .
        1 . . 1 . . . . *
      

If we keep the same connectivity graph, but relabel the nodes, we could get a picture like this:

           7--8--9
           |  | /
        3--5--6
        |  |  |
        1--2--4
      

        * 1 1 . . . . . .
        1 * . 1 1 . . . .
        1 . * . 1 . . . .
        . 1 . * . 1 . . .
        . 1 1 . * 1 1 . .
        . . . 1 1 * . 1 1
        . . . . 1 . * 1 .
        . . . . . 1 1 * 1
        . . . . . 1 . 1 *
      

Licensing:

The computer code and data files described and made available on this web page are distributed under the GNU LGPL license.

Languages:

RCM is available in a C++ version and a FORTRAN90 version and a MATLAB version.

Related Data and Programs:

MESH_BANDWIDTH, a C++ program which returns the geometric bandwidth associated with a mesh of elements of any order and in a space of arbitrary dimension.

QUAD_MESH_RCM, a C++ program which computes the reverse Cuthill-McKee (RCM) reordering for nodes in a mesh of 4-node quadrilaterals.

SPARSEPAK, a FORTRAN90 library which solves sparse linear systems using the Reverse Cuthill-McKee reordering scheme.

TET_MESH_RCM, a C++ program which reads files describing a tetrahedral mesh of nodes in 3D, and applies the RCM algorithm to produce a renumbering of the tet mesh with a reduced bandwidth.

TRIANGULATION ORDER3, a data directory which contains a description and examples of order 3 triangulations.

TRIANGULATION ORDER6, a data directory which contains a description and examples of order 6 triangulations.

TRIANGULATION_RCM, a C++ program which reads files describing a triangulation of nodes in 2D, and applies the RCM algorithm to produce a renumbering of the triangulation with a reduced bandwidth.

Reference:

1. HL Crane, Norman Gibbs, William Poole, Paul Stockmeyer,
   Algorithm 508: Matrix Bandwidth and Profile Reduction,
   ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software,
   Volume 2, Number 4, December 1976, pages 375-377.
2. Alan George, Joseph Liu,
   Computer Solution of Large Sparse Positive Definite Matrices,
   Prentice Hall, 1981,
   ISBN: 0131652745,
   LC: QA188.G46
3. Norman Gibbs,
   Algorithm 509: A Hybrid Profile Reduction Algorithm,
   ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software,
   Volume 2, Number 4, December 1976, pages 378-387.
4. Norman Gibbs, William Poole, Paul Stockmeyer,
   An Algorithm for Reducing the Bandwidth and Profile of a Sparse Matrix,
   SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis,
   Volume 13, Number 2, April 1976, pages 236-250.
5. John Lewis,
   Algorithm 582: The Gibbs-Poole-Stockmeyer and Gibbs-King Algorithms for Reordering Sparse Matrices,
   ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software,
   Volume 8, Number 2, June 1982, pages 190-194.

Source Code:

• rcm.cpp, the source code.
• rcm.hpp, the include file.

Examples and Tests:

• rcm_test.cpp, a sample calling program.
• rcm_test.txt, the output file.

List of Routines:

• ADJ_BANDWIDTH computes the bandwidth of an adjacency matrix.
• ADJ_CONTAINS_IJ determines if (I,J) is in an adjacency structure.
• ADJ_INSERT_IJ inserts (I,J) into an adjacency structure.
• ADJ_PERM_BANDWIDTH computes the bandwidth of a permuted adjacency matrix.
• ADJ_PERM_SHOW displays a symbolic picture of a permuted adjacency matrix.
• ADJ_PRINT prints adjacency information.
• ADJ_PRINT_SOME prints some adjacency information.
• ADJ_SET sets up the adjacency information.
• ADJ_SHOW displays a symbolic picture of an adjacency matrix.
• DEGREE computes the degrees of the nodes in the connected component.
• GENRCM finds the reverse Cuthill-Mckee ordering for a general graph.
• GRAPH_01_ADJ returns the adjacency vector for graph 1.
• I4_MAX returns the maximum of two I4's.
• I4_MIN returns the smaller of two I4's.
• I4_SIGN returns the sign of an I4.
• I4_SWAP switches two I4's.
• I4_UNIFORM returns a scaled pseudorandom I4.
• I4MAT_PRINT_SOME prints some of an I4MAT.
• I4MAT_TRANSPOSE_PRINT prints an I4MAT, transposed.
• I4MAT_TRANSPOSE_PRINT_SOME prints some of an I4MAT, transposed.
• I4ROW_COMPARE compares two rows of an I4ROW.
• I4ROW_SORT_A ascending sorts the rows of an I4ROW.
• I4ROW_SWAP swaps two rows of an I4ROW.
• I4VEC_HEAP_D reorders an I4VEC into a descending heap.
• I4VEC_INDICATOR sets an I4VEC to the indicator vector.
• I4VEC_PRINT prints an I4VEC.
• I4VEC_REVERSE reverses the elements of an integer vector.
• I4VEC_SORT_HEAP_A ascending sorts an I4VEC using heap sort.
• LEVEL_SET generates the connected level structure rooted at a given node.
• LEVEL_SET_PRINT prints level set information.
• PERM_CHECK checks that a vector represents a permutation.
• PERM_INVERSE3 produces the inverse of a given permutation.
• PERM_UNIFORM selects a random permutation of N objects.
• R4_ABS returns the absolute value of an R4.
• R4_NINT returns the nearest integer to an R4.
• R82VEC_PERMUTE permutes an R82VEC in place.
• R8MAT_PRINT_SOME prints some of an R8MAT.
• R8MAT_TRANSPOSE_PRINT_SOME prints some of an R8MAT, transposed.
• RCM renumbers a connected component by the reverse Cuthill McKee algorithm.
• ROOT_FIND finds a pseudo-peripheral node.
• SORT_HEAP_EXTERNAL externally sorts a list of items into ascending order.
• TIMESTAMP prints the current YMDHMS date as a time stamp.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER3_ADJ_COUNT counts adjacencies in a triangulation.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER3_ADJ_SET sets adjacencies in a triangulation.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER3_EXAMPLE2 sets up a sample triangulation.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER3_EXAMPLE2_SIZE sets sizes for a sample triangulation.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER3_NEIGHBOR_TRIANGLES determines triangle neighbors.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER6_ADJ_COUNT counts adjacencies in a triangulation.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER6_ADJ_SET sets adjacencies in a triangulation.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER6_EXAMPLE2 sets up a sample triangulation.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER6_EXAMPLE2_SIZE sets sizes for a sample triangulation.
• TRIANGULATION_ORDER6_NEIGHBOR_TRIANGLES determines triangle neighbors.

You can go up one level to the C++ source codes.