Characterizations of Totally Balanced Matrices

Abstract A (0,1)-matrix is totally balanced if it does not contain as a submatrix the incidence matrix of any cycle of length at least 3. Several alternative characterizations of these matrices are presented. These characterizations follow from properties of strongly chordal graphs, studied by Farber, and maximal totally balanced matrices, studied by Anstee. Using these characterizations, efficient recognition algorithms for totally balanced matrices are presented. In addition, a new completion algorithm for building a maximal totally balanced matrix from an arbitrary totally balanced matrix follows from these results.