Is there an algorithm to "simplify" a dependency graph?
graph-algorithm, simplify
Solution
You are looking for transitive reduction.
For a discussion of algorithms, see Transitive Closure and Reduction.
Problem
My problem is very simple but I don't really know its name and therefore, it's hard to find a solution by myself : How to simplify a dependency graph like (where `->` means depends): A -> B -> C & A -> C to ``` A -> B -> C ```