Shortest common supersequence problem

In computer science, the shortest common supersequence problem is a problem closely related to the longest common subsequence problem. Given two sequences X = < x₁,...,x_m > and Y = < y₁,...,y_n >, a sequence U = < u₁,...,u_k > is a common supersequence of X and Y if U is a supersequence of both X and Y. In other words, a shortest common supersequence of strings x and y is a shortest string z such that both x and y are subsequences of z.