Graph Traversal

Depth-First Search

Md. Bakhtiar Hasan

Lecturer
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Islamic University of Technology
Problem At Hand

“Exploring” a graph

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Problem At Hand

“Exploring” a graph

s t

MBH (CSE, IUT) Graph Traversal 2 / 13

Problem At Hand

“Exploring” a graph

s t

MBH (CSE, IUT) Graph Traversal 2 / 13

Problem At Hand

“Exploring” a graph

s t

Possible Problems
Finding a way out
Exploring all possible paths
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Solution Setup

Convert each junction to a node

c d k t

b e i m

a g h l

s f j n

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Solution Setup

Convert each junction to a node

Create edge for connected junctions

c d k t

b e i m

a g h l

s f j n

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Solution Idea

Start from source/start point

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Solution Idea

Start from source/start point

Follow junctions, leaving breadcrumbs, till we reach dead-end

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Solution Idea

Start from source/start point

Follow junctions, leaving breadcrumbs, till we reach dead-end
Backtrack along breadcrumbs until we reach unexplored neighbor

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Solution Idea

Start from source/start point

Follow junctions, leaving breadcrumbs, till we reach dead-end
Backtrack along breadcrumbs until we reach unexplored neighbor
Explore those neighbors

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Solution Idea

Start from source/start point

Follow junctions, leaving breadcrumbs, till we reach dead-end
Backtrack along breadcrumbs until we reach unexplored neighbor
Explore those neighbors
Avoid repeating junction

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Solution Idea

Start from source/start point

Follow junctions, leaving breadcrumbs, till we reach dead-end
Backtrack along breadcrumbs until we reach unexplored neighbor
Explore those neighbors
Avoid repeating junction
Until we find the target/finish point

MBH (CSE, IUT) Graph Traversal 4 / 13

Solution Idea

Start from source/start point

Follow junctions, leaving breadcrumbs, till we reach dead-end
Backtrack along breadcrumbs until we reach unexplored neighbor
Explore those neighbors
Avoid repeating junction
Until we find the target/finish point

Depth-First Search

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Solution Idea

Start from source/start point

Follow junctions, leaving breadcrumbs, till we reach dead-end
Backtrack along breadcrumbs until we reach unexplored neighbor
Explore those neighbors
Avoid repeating junction
Until we find the target/finish point
(Optional) Check and explore if any other junction is not explored

Depth-First Search

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Example

Assume, adjL is sorted in alphabetical order

s a b

c d e

parent
s a b c d e

stack

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Complexity

Traverse every vertex once → V

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Complexity

Traverse every vertex once → V

From each vertex v , traverse adjL[v]
From the Handshaking
 Lemma,
P E (Directed Graph)
adjL[v ] =
v ∈V 2E (Undirected Graph)

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Complexity

Traverse every vertex once → V

From each vertex v , traverse adjL[v]
From the Handshaking
 Lemma,
P E (Directed Graph)
adjL[v ] =
v ∈V 2E (Undirected Graph)
Time complexity: O(V + E )

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Edge Classification

Tree Edge: Created by traversing child-parent. Used to visit new

vertex

s a b

c d e

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Edge Classification

Tree Edge: Created by traversing child-parent. Used to visit new

vertex
Non-Tree Edge:

s a b

c d e

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Edge Classification

Tree Edge: Created by traversing child-parent. Used to visit new

vertex
Non-Tree Edge:
• Forward Edge: Ancestor → Descendant

s a b

c d e

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Edge Classification

Tree Edge: Created by traversing child-parent. Used to visit new

vertex
Non-Tree Edge:
• Forward Edge: Ancestor → Descendant
• Back Edge: Descendant → Ancestor

s a b

c d e

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Edge Classification

Tree Edge: Created by traversing child-parent. Used to visit new

vertex
Non-Tree Edge:
• Forward Edge: Ancestor → Descendant
• Back Edge: Descendant → Ancestor
• Cross Edge: Between two non-ancestor related subtree

s a b

c d e

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Edge Classification

Tree Edge: Created by traversing child-parent. Used to visit new

vertex
Non-Tree Edge:
• Forward Edge: Ancestor → Descendant
• Back Edge: Descendant → Ancestor
• Cross Edge: Between two non-ancestor related subtree
Undirected graph → Tree Edge + Back Edge

s a b

c d e

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a back-edge (ca).
a b c

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a back-edge (ca).
a b c

=⇒ c must be descendant of a

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a back-edge (ca).
a b c

=⇒ c must be descendant of a
=⇒ There’s a path consisting of tree-edge(s) from a to c

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a back-edge (ca).
a b c

=⇒ c must be descendant of a
=⇒ There’s a path consisting of tree-edge(s) from a to c
=⇒ Cycle

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a cycle (< v0 , v1 , . . . , vn , v0 >).
v2 v3
v1 v4
v0 vn

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a cycle (< v0 , v1 , . . . , vn , v0 >).
v2 v3
v1 v4
v0 vn

Let, v0 be the first vertex visited in the cycle

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a cycle (< v0 , v1 , . . . , vn , v0 >).
v2 v3
v1 v4
v0 vn

Let, v0 be the first vertex visited in the cycle

v1 will finish before finishing v0

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a cycle (< v0 , v1 , . . . , vn , v0 >).
v2 v3
v1 v4
v0 vn

Let, v0 be the first vertex visited in the cycle

v1 will finish before finishing v0
v2 will finish before finishing v1 and v0

MBH (CSE, IUT) Graph Traversal 9 / 13

Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a cycle (< v0 , v1 , . . . , vn , v0 >).
v2 v3
v1 v4
v0 vn

Let, v0 be the first vertex visited in the cycle

v1 will finish before finishing v0
v2 will finish before finishing v1 and v0
...

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a cycle (< v0 , v1 , . . . , vn , v0 >).
v2 v3
v1 v4
v0 vn

Let, v0 be the first vertex visited in the cycle

v1 will finish before finishing v0
v2 will finish before finishing v1 and v0
...
vn will finish before finishing vn−1 , . . . , v0

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Cycle Detection

Claim
A graph G has a cycle ⇐⇒ DFS has a back edge

Proof:
Consider that, our graph has a cycle (< v0 , v1 , . . . , vn , v0 >).
v2 v3
v1 v4
v0 vn

Let, v0 be the first vertex visited in the cycle

v1 will finish before finishing v0
v2 will finish before finishing v1 and v0
...
vn will finish before finishing vn−1 , . . . , v0
v0 is an ancestor of vn → vn , v0 is a back-edge
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Job Scheduling

Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)

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Job Scheduling

Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)

Vertices → Task
Edge → Dependency

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Job Scheduling

Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)

Vertices → Task
Edge → Dependency
Order task without violating the dependencies

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Job Scheduling

Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)

Vertices → Task
Edge → Dependency
Order task without violating the dependencies

SP-I SP-II DBMS

Algo
DS
SA DM

P&S

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Job Scheduling

Run DFS on any vertex

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Job Scheduling

Run DFS on any vertex

Push vertex in stack when finished processing

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Job Scheduling

Run DFS on any vertex

Push vertex in stack when finished processing
Avoid repeating vertices

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Job Scheduling

Run DFS on any vertex

Push vertex in stack when finished processing
Avoid repeating vertices
Continue running DFS until all vertices are visited

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Job Scheduling

Run DFS on any vertex

Push vertex in stack when finished processing
Avoid repeating vertices
Continue running DFS until all vertices are visited
Pop elements from the stack and print → Task Ordering

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Job Scheduling

Run DFS on any vertex

Push vertex in stack when finished processing
Avoid repeating vertices
Continue running DFS until all vertices are visited
Pop elements from the stack and print → Task Ordering

Topological Sort

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:
Case 1: u starts before v

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:
Case 1: u starts before v
• DFS will visit v before finishing u

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:
Case 1: u starts before v
• DFS will visit v before finishing u
• v finishes before u

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:
Case 1: u starts before v
• DFS will visit v before finishing u
• v finishes before u
Case 2: v starts before u

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:
Case 1: u starts before v
• DFS will visit v before finishing u
• v finishes before u
Case 2: v starts before u
• Problem if we visit u before finishing v

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:
Case 1: u starts before v
• DFS will visit v before finishing u
• v finishes before u
Case 2: v starts before u
• Problem if we visit u before finishing v
• Can only happen when (v , u) exists

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:
Case 1: u starts before v
• DFS will visit v before finishing u
• v finishes before u
Case 2: v starts before u
• Problem if we visit u before finishing v
• Can only happen when (v , u) exists
• Will create a back-edge → can’t exists in DAG

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Job Scheduling

Claim
For any edge, e = (u, v ), v finishes before u in DFS.

u v

Proof:
Case 1: u starts before v
• DFS will visit v before finishing u
• v finishes before u
Case 2: v starts before u
• Problem if we visit u before finishing v
• Can only happen when (v , u) exists
• Will create a back-edge → can’t exists in DAG
• v finishes before u

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Reading

CLRS 22.3, 22.4

Dasgupta 3.2, 3.3
Jeff Erickson 5.6, 5.7, 6.1-6.3, 6.5, 8.5

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