Given a parameter k, I'm trying to delete k edges from a directed graph such that the maximum flow is reduced by as much as possible. The graph has a source s and a sink t, and the capacity of each edge is one. The graph may or may not contain cycles. My proposed solution would be to first perform a topological sorting on the graph, using an algorithm that "forgives" cycles -- perhaps by ignoring edges that lead us back to the source. Then (assuming k = 1): i = 0 for each vertex u order by topological(u) for each edge (u, v) order by topological(v) descending if topological(v) > topological(u) then delete (u, v) if ++i = k then return else // edge doesn't contribute to max flow, ignore Would this work, or am I totally off-track here?