Modification of Edmonds' maximum matching algorithm

Edmonds d e veloped an efficient a lgorithm for finding in a given graph C a mat c hing of maximum cardinality. Thi s algorithm "s hrinks" part s of the graph C. Although helpful to the intuitive unde rstanding of the theory, s hrinking is compl icated to im plem e nt on an e l<!'c troni c comput e rThe modificati on presente d in thi s paper avoids s hrinking_ It e mploys ins tead a treelik e arrangement of alt e rnating paths. The possibili t y of s uc h an arrangement is also of theo re ti ca l int e res t , and it s proof form s the main part of th e paper-