Trees Rooted Trees Spanning trees and Shortest Paths

Lecture #13: Trees

Aaron Tan

AY2023/24 Semester 1 1
14. Trees

10.5 Trees
• Definitions: circuit-free, tree, trivial tree, forest
• Characterizing trees: terminal vertex (leaf), internal vertex

10.6 Rooted Trees

• Definitions: rooted tree, root, level, height, child, parent, sibling, ancestor,
descendant
• Definitions: binary tree, full binary tree, subtree
• Binary tree traversal: breadth-first-search (BFD), depth-first-search (DFS)

10.7 Spanning Trees and Shortest Paths

• Definitions: spanning tree, weighted graph, minimum spanning tree (MST)
• Kruskal’s algorithm, Prim’s algorithm
• Dijkstra’s shortest path algorithm (non covered this semester)

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10.5 Trees

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Definition

Definition

Definition: Tree
(The graph is assumed to be undirected here.)
A graph is said to be circuit-free if and only if it has no circuits.
A simple graph is called a tree if and only if it is circuit-free and connected.
A trivial tree is a tree that consists of a single vertex.
A simple graph is called a forest if and only if it is circuit-free and not
connected.

Graph Tree Forest

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Example

Possibility Tree

As discussed in week 9, a possibility tree is used to keep

systematic track of all possibilities in which events happen in
order. For example:

Figure 9.2.1 The Outcomes of a Tournament

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Applications

Applications
Trees are used to store hierarchically ordered data.
Computer file systems

Binary Search Trees

(BSTs)

And many
others…

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Characterizing Trees

Lemma 10.5.1
Any non-trivial tree has at least one vertex of degree 1.

Proof: Let T be a particular but arbitrarily chosen non-trivial tree.

Step 1: Pick a vertex v of T and let e be an edge incident on v.
Step 2: While deg(v) > 1, repeat steps 2a, 2b and 2c:
2a: Choose e' to be an edge incident on v such that e'  e.
2b: Let v' be the vertex at the other end of e' from v, and v'
has not be chosen before.
2c: Let e = e' and v = v'.
The algorithm must eventually terminate because the set of
vertices of the tree T is finite and T is circuit-free. When it does,
a vertex v of degree 1 will have been found.
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Characterizing Trees

Lemma 10.5.1
Any non-trivial tree has at least one vertex of degree 1.

Note: We can use another theorem to prove that a non-trial

tree actually has at least two vertices of degree 1.

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Characterizing Trees

Definitions: Terminal vertex (leaf) and internal vertex

Let T be a tree. If T has only one or two vertices, then each is
called a terminal vertex (or leaf). If T has at least three vertices,
then a vertex of degree 1 in T is called a terminal vertex (or
leaf), and a vertex of degree greater than 1 in T is called an
internal vertex.
Example: Find all terminal vertices (leaves) and all internal
vertices in the following tree: Leaves: v0, v2, v4, v5, v7 and v8.
Internal vertices: v6, v1 and v3.

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Characterizing Trees

Theorem 10.5.2
Any tree with n vertices (n > 0) has n – 1 edges.

Proof: By mathematical induction.

Let the property P(n) be “any tree with n vertices has n – 1 edges”.
P(1): Let T be a tree with one vertex. Then T has no edges.
So P(1) is true.
Show that for all integers k  1, if P(k) is true then P(k+1) is true.
Suppose P(k) is true.
1. Let T be a particular but arbitrarily chosen tree with k + 1 vertices.
2. Since k is positive, (k + 1)  2, and so T has more than one vertex.
3. Hence, by Lemma 10.5.1, T has a vertex v of degree 1, and has at least
another vertex in T besides v.
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Characterizing Trees

Proof: (continued…)
3. Hence, by Lemma 10.5.1, T has a vertex v of degree 1, and has at least
another vertex in T besides v.
4. Thus, there is an edge e connecting v to the rest of T.
5. Define a subgraph T' of T so that VT' = VT – {v} and ET' = ET – {e}.
5.1 The number of vertices of T' is (k + 1) – 1 = k.
5.2 T' is circuit-free.
e T'
5.3 T' is connected. …
v
6. Hence by definition, T' is a tree.
7. Since T' has k vertices, by inductive hypothesis,
number of edges of T' = (number of vertices of T') – 1 = k – 1.
8. Hence, number of edges of T = (number of edges of T') + 1 = k.
9. Hence P(k+1) is true.

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Characterizing Trees

Exercise: Using Theorem 10.5.2, prove that a non-trivial tree has

at least 2 vertices of degree 1.

Do this exercise on your own and discuss it on Canvas or QnA.

We will assume that this is proved and use it in our next problem.

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Characterizing Trees

Example: Find all non-isomorphic trees with 4 vertices.

By Theorem 10.5.2, any tree with 4 vertices has 3 edges. And so
by the Handshake Theorem, the tree has a total degree of 6.
Theorem 10.1.1 The Handshake Theorem

Given a graph G=(V, E), the total degree of G = 2|E|.

Also, every non-trivial tree has at least two vertices of degree 1.
The only possible combinations of degrees for the 4 vertices are:
1, 1, 1, 3 and 1, 1, 2, 2
Therefore, there are two non-isomorphic trees with 4 vertices.

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Characterizing Trees

Lemma 10.5.3
If G is any connected graph, C is any circuit in G, and one of the edges
of C is removed from G, then the graph that remains is still connected.

Essentially, the reason why Lemma 10.5.3 is true is that any two
vertices in a circuit are connected by 2 distinct paths. It is possible
to draw the graph so that one of these goes “clockwise” and the
other goes “counter-clockwise” around the circuit.
For example, in the circuit shown below:
The clockwise path from
v2 to v3 is: v2 e3 v3
The counter-clockwise
path from v2 to v3 is:
v2 e2 v1 e1 v0 e6 v5 e5 v4 e4 v3
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Characterizing Trees

Theorem 10.5.4
If G is a connected graph with n vertices and n – 1 edges, then G
is a tree.
Proof:
1. Suppose G is a particular but arbitrarily chosen graph that is
connected and has n vertices and n – 1 edges.
2. Since G is connected, it suffices to show that G is circuit-free.
3. Suppose G is not circuit free
3.1 Let C be the circuit in G.
3.2 By Lemma 10.5.3, an edge of C can be removed from G to obtain a
graph G' that is connected.
3.3 If G' has a circuit, then repeat this process: Remove an edge of the
circuit from G' to form a new connected graph.
3.4 Continue the process of removing edges from the circuits until
eventually a graph G'' is obtained that is connected and is circuit-free.
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Characterizing Trees

Proof: (continued…)
3.4 Continue the process of removing edges from the circuits until
eventually a graph G'' is obtained that is connected and is circuit-free.
3.5 By definition, G'' is a tree.
3.6 Since no vertices were removed from G to form G'', G'' has n vertices.
3.7 Thus, by Theorem 10.5.2, G'' has n – 1 edges.
3.8 But the supposition that G has a circuit implies that at least one edge
of G is removed to form G''.
3.9 Hence G'' has no more than (n – 1) – 1 = n – 2 edges, which
contradicts its having n – 1 edges.
3.10 So the supposition is false.
4. Hence G is circuit-free, and therefore G is a tree.
G’’ is the result of
Assume G is not removing edges from
circuit-free. circuits in G. At least 1
G has n vertices and edge removed from G.
n – 1 edges. G’’ has n vertices and at
most n – 2 edges.
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Characterizing Trees

Note that although it is true that every connected graph with n

vertices and n – 1 edges is a tree, it is not true that every graph
with n vertices and n – 1 edges is a tree.
Example: Give an example of a graph with five vertices and four
edges that is not a tree.

By Theorem 10.5.4, such a graph cannot be connected. One

example of such an unconnected graph is shown below.

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10.6 Rooted Trees

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Definitions

Definitions: Rooted Tree, Level, Height

A rooted tree is a tree in which there is one vertex that is distinguished from
the others and is called the root.
The level of a vertex is the number of edges along the unique path between
it and the root.
The height of a rooted tree is the maximum level of any vertex of the tree.

Definitions: Child, Parent, Sibling, Ancestor, Descendant

Given the root or any internal vertex v of a rooted tree, the children of v are
all those vertices that are adjacent to v and are one level farther away from
the root than v.
If w is a child of v, then v is called the parent of w, and two distinct vertices
that are both children of the same parent are called siblings.
Given two distinct vertices v and w, if v lies on the unique path between w
and the root, then v is an ancestor of w, and w is a descendant of v.
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Definitions

Figure 10.6.1 A Rooted Tree

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Example

Example: Consider the tree with root v0 shown below.

a. What is the level of v5? 2

b. What is the level of v0? 0
c. What is the height of this rooted
tree? 3
d. What are the children of v3? v5 and v6
e. What is the parent of v2? v0
f. What are the siblings of v8? v7 and v9
g. What are the descendants of v3? v5, v6 and v10

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Binary Trees

Binary Trees

Definitions: Binary Tree, Full Binary Tree

A binary tree is a rooted tree in which every parent has at most two
children. Each child is designated either a left child or a right child (but not
both), and every parent has at most one left child and one right child.
A full binary tree is a binary tree in which each parent has exactly two
children.

Definitions: Left Subtree, Right Subtree

Given any parent v in a binary tree T, if v has a left child, then the left
subtree of v is the binary tree whose root is the left child of v, whose
vertices consist of the left child of v and all its descendants, and whose edges
consist of all those edges of T that connect the vertices of the left subtree.
The right subtree of v is defined analogously.
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Binary Trees

Binary Trees

Figure 10.6.2 A Binary Tree

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Example – Representation of Algebraic Expressions

Example – Representation of Algebraic Expressions

Binary trees are used in many ways in computer science. One
use is to represent algebraic expressions with arbitrary nesting
of balanced parentheses.
For instance, the following (labeled) binary tree represents the
expression a/b: The operator is at the root and acts on the left
and right children of the root in left-right order.

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Example – Representation of Algebraic Expressions

More generally, the binary tree shown below represents the

expression a/(c + d). In such a representation, the internal
vertices are arithmetic operators, the terminal vertices are
variables, and the operator at each vertex acts on its left and
right subtrees in left-right order.

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Example – Representation of Algebraic Expressions

Draw a binary tree to represent the expression

((a – b)  c) + (d/e)

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Full Binary Tree

Theorem 10.6.1: Full Binary Tree Theorem

If T is a full binary tree with k internal vertices, then T has a total
of 2k + 1 vertices and has k + 1 terminal vertices (leaves).
Proof:
1. Every vertex, except the root, has a parent.
2. Since every internal vertex of a full binary tree has exactly two children,
the number of vertices that have a parent is twice the number of
parents, or 2k.
#vertices of T = #vertices that have a parent +
#vertices that do not have a parent
= 2k + 1
3. #terminal vertices = #vertices – #internal vertices
= 2k + 1 – k = k + 1
4. Therefore T has a total of 2k + 1 vertices and has k + 1 terminal vertices.
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Full Binary Tree

Q: Is there a full binary tree that has 10 internal

vertices and 13 terminal vertices?
No, by Theorem 10.6.1, a full binary tree with 10
internal vertices has 10 + 1 = 11 terminal vertices.

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Height and Terminal Vertices of a Binary Tree

Height and Terminal Vertices of a Binary Tree

Theorem 10.6.2
For non-negative integers h, if T is any binary tree with height h
and t terminal vertices (leaves), then
t  2h
Equivalently,
log2 t  h

This theorem says that the maximum number of

terminal vertices (leaves) of a binary tree of height h
is 2h. Alternatively, a binary tree with t terminal
vertices (leaves) has height of at least log2 t.
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Height and Terminal Vertices of a Binary Tree

Proof: By strong mathematical induction

1. Let P(h) be “If T is any binary tree of height h, then the
number of leaves of T is at most 2h.”
2. P(0): T consists of one vertex, which is a terminal vertex.
Hence t = 1 = 20.
3. Show that for all integers k  0, if P(i) is true for all integers
i from 0 through k, then P(k+1) is true.
4. Let T be a binary tree of height k + 1, root v, and t leaves.
5. Since k  0, hence k + 1  1 and so v has at least one child.
6. We consider two cases: If v has only one child, or if v has
two children.

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Height and Terminal Vertices of a Binary Tree

Proof: (continued…)
Case 1 (v has only one child):

v
Level 0

vL
Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Left subtree TL

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Height and Terminal Vertices of a Binary Tree

Proof: (continued…)
7. Case 1 (v has only one child):
7.1 Without loss of generality, assume that v’s child is a left child
and denote it by vL. Let TL be the left subtree of v.
7.2 Because v has only one child, v has degree 1 (leaf), so the total
number of leaves in T equals the number of leaves in TL + 1.
Thus, if tL is the number of leaves in TL , then t = tL + 1.
7.3 By inductive hypothesis, tL  2k because the height of TL is k,
one less than the height of T.
7.4 Also, because v has a child, k+1  1 and so 2k  20 = 1.
v
7.5 Therefore, Level 0
t = tL + 1  2k + 1  2k + 2k = 2k+1 vL Level 1

Level 2

Level 3
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Left subtree TL
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Height and Terminal Vertices of a Binary Tree

Proof: (continued…)
Case 2 (v has two children):

v
Level 0

vL
Level 1
vR

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Left subtree TL Right subtree TR

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Height and Terminal Vertices of a Binary Tree

Proof: (continued…)
8. Case 2 (v has two children):
8.1 Now v has a left child vL and a right child vR , and they are the
roots of a left subtree TL and a right subtree TR respectively.
8.2 Let hL and hR be the heights of TL and TR respectively.
8.3 Then hL  k and hR  k since T is obtained by joining TL and TR
and adding a level.
8.4 Let tL and tR be the number of leaves of TL and TR respectively.
8.5 Then, since both TL and TR have heights less than k + 1, by
inductive hypothesis, tL  2hL and tR  2hR.
8.6 Therefore,
t = tL + tR  2hL + 2hR  2k + 2k = 2k+1
9. In both cases, P(k+1) is true.
10. Hence if T is any binary tree with height h and t terminal vertices
(leaves), then t  2h. 34
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Height and Terminal Vertices of a Binary Tree

Q: Is there a binary tree that has height 5 and 38

terminal vertices?

No, by Theorem 10.6.2, any binary tree T with height

5 has at most 25 = 32 terminal vertices, so such a
tree cannot have 38 terminal vertices.

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Binary Tree Traversal

Binary Tree Traversal

Tree traversal (also known as tree search) is the

process of visiting each node in a tree data structure
exactly once in a systematic manner.
There are two types of traversal: breadth-first search
(BFS) or depth-first search (DFS).
The following sections describe BFS and DFS on binary
trees, but in general they can be applied on any type
of trees, or even graphs.

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Binary Tree Traversal

Breadth-First Search

In breadth-first search (by E.F. Moore), it starts at the

root and visits its adjacent vertices, and then moves
to the next level.
1
The figure shows the
order of the vertices 2 3
visited.
4 5 6

7 8 9

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Binary Tree Traversal

Breadth-First Search
The figure on the left shows a graph representing cities in
Germany. The figure on the right shows the breadth-first
traversal on the graph, starting with Frankfurt.

Acknowledgement: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadth-first_search 38

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Binary Tree Traversal

Depth-First Search

There are three types of depth-first traversal:

 Pre-order
 Print the data of the root (or current vertex)
 Traverse the left subtree by recursively calling the pre-order function
 Traverse the right subtree by recursively calling the pre-order function
 In-order
 Traverse the left subtree by recursively calling the in-order function
 Print the data of the root (or current vertex)
 Traverse the right subtree by recursively calling the in-order function
 Post-order
 Traverse the left subtree by recursively calling the post-order function
 Traverse the right subtree by recursively calling the post-order function
 Print the data of the root (or current vertex)

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Binary Tree Traversal

Depth-First Search

Pre-order: In-order: Post-order:

F, B, A, D, C, E, G, I, H A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I A, C, E, D, B, H, I, G, F

Acknowledgement: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_traversal 40

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10.7 Spanning Trees and Shortest Paths

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Definitions

An East Coast airline company wants to expand service to the

Midwest and has received permission from the Federal Aviation
Authority to fly any of the routes shown in Figure 10.7.1.

Figure 10.7.1

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Definitions

The company wishes to legitimately advertise service to all the cities shown
but, for reasons of economy, wants to use the least possible number of
individual routes to connect them. One possible route system is given in
Figure 10.7.2, where the chosen routes are in red.

Figure 10.7.1 Figure 10.7.2

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Definitions
Lemma 10.5.3
Is the number of individual If G is any connected graph, C is any
routes minimal? circuit in G, and one of the edges of
C is removed from G, then the graph
The fact is that the graph of any that remains is still connected.
system of routes that satisfies
the company’s wishes is a tree,
because if the graph were to
contain a circuit, then one of
the routes in the circuit could
be removed without
disconnecting the graph (by
Lemma 10.5.3), and that would
give a smaller total number of
routes. Figure 10.7.2

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Definitions

What you have seen is a spanning tree.

Definition: Spanning Tree

A spanning tree for a graph G is a subgraph of G that contains
every vertex of G and is a tree.

Proposition 10.7.1
1. Every connected graph has a spanning tree.
2. Any two spanning trees for a graph have the same
number of edges.

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Definitions

Example: Find all spanning trees for the graph G below.

The graph G has one circuit v2v1v4v2 and removal of any edge
of the circuit gives a tree. Hence there are three spanning
trees for G.

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Minimum Spanning Trees

Minimum Spanning Trees

The graph of the routes allowed by the Federal Aviation

Authority shown in Figure 10.7.1 can be annotated by adding the
distances (in miles) between each pair of cities. This is called a
weighted graph.

Now, suppose the airline

company wants to serve all the
cities shown, but with a route
system that minimizes the total
mileage.

Figure 10.7.3
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Minimum Spanning Trees

Minimum Spanning Trees

Definitions: Weighted Graph, Minimum Spanning Tree

A weighted graph is a graph for which each edge has an
associated positive real number weight . The sum of the
weights of all the edges is the total weight of the graph.
A minimum spanning tree for a connected weighted graph is a
spanning tree that has the least possible total weight compared
to all other spanning trees for the graph.
If G is a weighted graph and e is an edge of G, then w(e)
denotes the weight of e and w(G) denotes the total weight of G.

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Kruskal’s Algorithm

Kruskal’s Algorithm (Joseph B. Kruskal, 1956)

In Kruskal’s algorithm, the edges of a

connected weighted graph are examined Joseph B. Kruskal
(1928 – 2010)
one by one in order of increasing weight.
At each stage the edge being examined is added to
what will become the minimum spanning tree,
provided that this addition does not create a circuit.
After n – 1 edges have been added (where n is the
number of vertices of the graph), these edges, together
with the vertices of the graph, form a minimum
spanning tree for the graph.
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Kruskal’s Algorithm

Algorithm 10.7.1 Kruskal

Input: G [a connected weighted graph with n vertices]
Algorithm:
1. Initialize T to have all the vertices of G and no edges.
2. Let E be the set of all edges of G, and let m = 0.
3. While (m < n – 1)
3a. Find an edge e in E of least weight.
3b. Delete e from E.
3c. If addition of e to the edge set of T does not produce a
circuit, then add e to the edge set of T and set m = m + 1
End while
Output: T [T is a minimum spanning tree for G]

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Kruskal’s Algorithm

Example: Describe the action of Kruskal’s algorithm on the graph

shown in Figure 10.7.4, where n = 8.

Figure 10.7.4

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Kruskal’s Algorithm

Using Kruskal’s algorithm we can formulate the following table.

Edge considered Wt Action taken

1 Chi – Mil 74 added
2 Lou – Cin 83 added
3 Lou – Nas 151 added
4 Cin – Det 230 added
5 StL – Lou 242 added
6 StL – Chi 262 added
7 Chi – Lou 269 not added
8 Lou – Det 306 not added
Figure 10.7.4
9 Lou – Mil 348 not added
10 Min – Chi 355 added
Total weight = 1397
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Kruskal’s Algorithm

When Kruskal’s algorithm is used on a graph in which some

edges have the same weight as others, more than one minimum
spanning tree can occur as output.
To make the output unique, the edges of the graph can be
placed in an array and edges having the same weight can be
added in the order they appear in the array.

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Prim’s Algorithm

Prim’s Algorithm (Robert C. Prim, 1957)

Robert C. Prim
(1921 - )

Prim’s algorithm works differently from Kruskal’s. It builds a

minimum spanning tree T by expanding outward in connected
links from some vertex.
One edge and one vertex are added at each stage. The edge
added is the one of least weight that connects the vertices
already in T with those not in T, and the vertex is the endpoint of
this edge that is not already in T.

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Prim’s Algorithm

Algorithm 10.7.2 Prim

Input: G [a connected weighted graph with n vertices]
Algorithm:
1. Pick a vertex v of G and let T be the graph with this vertex only.
2. Let V be the set of all vertices of G except v.
3. For i = 1 to n – 1
3a. Find an edge e of G such that (1) e connects T to one of the
vertices in V, and (2) e has the least weight of all edges
connecting T to a vertex in V. Let w be the endpoint of e
that is in V.
3b. Add e and w to the edge and vertex sets of T, and delete w
from V.
Output: T [T is a minimum spanning tree for G]
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Prim’s Algorithm

Example: Describe the action of Prim’s algorithm on the graph

shown in Figure 10.7.6, using the Minneapolis vertex as a
starting point.

Figure 10.7.6

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Prim’s Algorithm

Using Prim’s algorithm we can formulate the following table.

Vertex added Edge added Weight

0 Minneapolis
1 Chicago Min – Chi 355
2 Milwaukee Chi – Mil 74
3 St. Louis Chi – StL 262
4 Louisville StL – Lou 242
5 Cincinnati Lou – Cin 83
6 Nashville Lou – Nas 151
7 Detroit Cin – Det 230
Figure 10.7.6
Total weight = 1397

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Prim’s Algorithm

Note that the tree obtained is the same as that obtained by

Kruskal’s algorithm, but the edges are added in a different order.
As with Kruskal’s algorithm, in order to ensure a unique output,
the edges of the graph could be placed in an array and those
with the same weight could be added in the order they appear in
the array.

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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Note that Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm is taken out

of the curriculum this semester.
However, the slides are retained here for your own
reading.
To skip slides 59
till end.

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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Edsger W. Dijkstra
(1930 – 2002)
In 1959, Edsger Dijkstra developed an algorithm to find
the shortest path between a starting vertex (source) and
an ending vertex (destination) in a weighted graph in
which all weights are positive.
Somewhat similar to Prim’s algorithms, it works outward
from the source a, adding vertices and edges one by one
to construct a shortest path tree T. It differs from Prim’s
algorithm in the way it chooses the next vertex to add,
ensuring that for each added vertex v, the length of the
shortest path from a to v has been identified. 60
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Intuition behind Dijkstra’s algorithm:

 Report the vertices in increasing order of their distance from
the source vertex.
 Construct the shortest path tree edge by edge; at each step
adding one new edge, corresponding to construction of
shortest path to the current new vertex.

Example: To find shortest part from vertex a to vertex z.

1
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

At the start, assign every vertex u a label L(u), which is

the current best estimate of the length of the shortest
path from a to u.
 
L(a) is set to 0.
0 

 1 
L(u) of each vertex u
other than a is set to .
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

As the algorithm progresses, the values of L(u) are

updated, eventually becoming the actual lengths of the
shortest paths from a to u.
We construct the shortest path tree T outward from a.
At each stage of the algorithm, the only vertices that
are candidates to join T are those that are adjacent to
at least one vertex of T. We call these candidates the
set of “fringe” vertices.
The graph G can be thought of as divided into 3 parts:
the tree T that is being built up, the set of “fringe”
vertices, and the rest of the vertices in G.
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

The rest of
a the vertices

Each fringe vertex is a

Shortest “Fringe” candidate to be the next
path tree T vertices vertex added to T.
All vertices in T The one that is chosen is the one for which
already have their the length of the shortest path to it from a
final L(u) value through T is a minimum among all the
computed. vertices in the fringe.
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

If L(v) + w(v, u) < L(u),

then the value of L(u) is
changed to L(v) + w(v, u).

After each addition of a vertex v to T, each fringe vertex u

adjacent to v is examined and two numbers are
compared: the current value of L(u) and the value of
L(v) + w(v, u), where L(v) is the length of the shortest path
to v (in T) and w(v, u) is the weight of the edge joining v
and u.
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Algorithm 10.7.3 Dijkstra

Inputs:
 G [a connected simple graph with positive weight for every edge]
  [a number greater than the sum of the weights of all the edges in G]
 w(u, v) [the weight of edge {u, v}]
 a [the source vertex]
 z [the destination vertex]
Algorithm:
1. Initialize T to be the graph with vertex a and no edges.
Let V(T) be the set of vertices of T, and let E(T) be the set of
edges of T.
2. L(a)  0, and for all vertices u in G except a, L(u)   .
[The number L(u) is called the label of u.]
3. Initialize v  a and F  {a}. [The symbol v is used to denote the
vertex most recently added to T.] 66
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Algorithm 10.7.3 Dijkstra (continued…)

Let Adj(x) denote the set of vertices adjacent to vertex x.
4. while (z V(T))
a. F  (F – {v})  {vertices  Adj(v) and  V(T)}
[The set F is the set of fringe vertices.]
b. For each vertex u  Adj(v) and  V(T), [The notation D(u) is
if L(v) + w(v, u) < L(u) then introduced to keep track
L(u)  L(v) + w(v, u) of which vertex in T gave
rise to the smaller value.]
D(u)  v
c. Find a vertex x in F with the smallest label.
Add vertex x to V(T), and add edge {D(x), x} to E(T).
vx
Output: L(z) [this is the length of the shortest path from a to z.]
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Example: Show the steps in the execution of Dijkstra’s

shortest path algorithm for the graph shown below
with starting vertex a and ending vertex z.

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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm


3 
Step 1: Going into the while loop:
0
V(T) = {a}, E(T) = Ø, and F = {a}

 1 

During iteration:
F = {b, c}, L(b) = 3, L(c) = 4.
Since L(b) < L(c), b is added to V(T) and {a, b} is added
to E(T).

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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

3 
Step 2: Going into the while loop:
0
V(T) = {a, b}, E(T) = {{a, b}}


4 1 

During iteration:
F = {c, d, e}, L(c) = 4, L(d) = 9, L(e) = 8.
Since L(c) < L(d) and L(c) < L(e), c is added to V(T) and
{a, c} is added to E(T).

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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

3 
Step 3: Going into the while loop:
0
V(T) = {a, b, c},

E(T) = {{a, b}, {a, c}}
4 1 
5

During iteration:
F = {d, e}, L(d) = 9, L(e) = 5.
L(e) becomes 5 because ace, which has length 5, is a
shorter path to e than abe, which has length 8. Since
L(e) < L(d), e is added to V(T) and {c, e} is added to E(T).

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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

3 7
Step 4: Going into the while loop:
0
V(T) = {a, b, c, e},

E(T) = {{a, b}, {a, c}, {c, e}}
4 1 5

During iteration:
F = {d, z}, L(d) = 7, L(z) = 17.
L(d) becomes 7 because aced, which has length 7, is a
shorter path to d than abd, which has length 9. Since
L(d) < L(z), d is added to V(T) and {e, d} is added to E(T).

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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

3 7
Step 5: Going into the while loop:
0
V(T) = {a, b, c, e , d},

14
E(T) = {{a, b}, {a, c}, {c, e}, {e, d}}
4 1 5

During iteration:
F = {z}, L(z) = 14.
L(z) becomes 14 because acedz, which has length 14, is
a shorter path to z than acez, which has length 17.
Since z is the only vertex in F, its label is a minimum,
and so z is added to V(T) and {d, z} is added to E(T).
Algorithm terminates at this point because z  V(T).
The shortest path from a to z has length L(z) = 14.
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Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm

Keeping track of the steps in a table is a convenient way

to show the action of Dijkstra’s algorithm. Table 10.7.1
does this for the graph in the previous example.

{d, z}}

Table 10.7.1

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