The crossing number of graphs: Theory and computation

Abstract

This survey concentrates on selected theoretical and computational aspects of the crossing number of graphs. Starting with its introduction by Turán, we will discuss known results for complete and complete bipartite graphs. Then we will focus on some historical confusion on the crossing number that has been brought up by Pach and Tóth as well as Székely. A connection to computational geometry is made in the section on the geometric version, namely the rectilinear crossing number. We will also mention some applications of the crossing number to geometrical problems. This review ends with recent results on approximation and exact computations. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.