Data Structures

Introduction to graphs

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 Graphs

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 What is a graph?
• Graphs represent the relationships among data
items
• A graph G consists of
– a set V of nodes (vertices)
– a set E of edges: each edge connects two nodes
• Each node represents an item
• Each edge represents the relationship between
two items
node
edge
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 Examples of graphs
Molecular Structure Computer Network
H Server 1 Terminal 1

H C H
Terminal 2
H Server 2

Other examples: electrical and communication networks,

airline routes, flow chart, graphs for planning projects

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 Formal Definition of graph
• The set of nodes is denoted as V
• For any nodes u and v, if u and v are
connected by an edge, such edge is denoted
as (u, v) v
(u, v)

u
• The set of edges is denoted as E
• A graph G is defined as a pair (V, E)
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 Adjacent
• Two nodes u and v are said to be adjacent
if (u, v)  E

v
(u, v)
u w
u and v are adjacent
v and w are not adjacent

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 Path and simple path
• A path from v1 to vk is a sequence of
nodes v1, v2, …, vk that are connected by
edges (v1, v2), (v2, v3), …, (vk-1, vk)
• A path is called a simple path if every node
appears at most once.
v2 v
v1 3

- v2, v3, v4, v2, v1 is a path

- v2, v3, v4, v5 is a path, also v4 v5
it is a simple path
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 Cycle and simple cycle
• A cycle is a path that begins and ends at
the same node
• A simple cycle is a cycle if every node
appears at most once, except for the first
and the last nodes
v2
v1 v3
- v2, v3, v4, v5 , v3, v2 is a cycle
- v2, v3, v4, v2 is a cycle, it is v5
also a simple cycle
v4
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 Connected graph
• A graph G is connected if there exists path
between every pair of distinct nodes;
otherwise, it is disconnected
v2
v1 v3

v4 v5
This is a connected graph because there exists path
between every pair of nodes
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 Example of disconnected graph

v1 v3 v7 v8
v2
v4 v5
v6 v9

This is a disconnected graph because there does not

exist path between some pair of nodes, says, v1 and v7

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 Connected component
• If a graph is disconnect, it can be partitioned into
a number of graphs such that each of them is
connected. Each such graph is called a
connected component.

v2 v7 v8
v1 v3

v4 v5
v6 v9
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 Complete graph
• A graph is complete if each pair of distinct
nodes has an edge

Complete graph Complete graph

with 3 nodes with 4 nodes

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 Subgraph
• A subgraph of a graph G =(V, E) is a graph
H = (U, F) such that U  V and
F  E.
v2 v2
v1 v3 v3

v4 v5 v4 v5

G H
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 Weighted graph
• If each edge in G is assigned a weight, it is
called a weighted graph

Chicago 1000 New York

3500
2000

Houston

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 Directed graph (digraph)
• All previous graphs are undirected graph
• If each edge in E has a direction, it is called a directed
edge
• A directed graph is a graph where every edges is a
directed edge
Chicago 1000 New York

Directed edge
2000 3500

Houston
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 More on directed graph
x y

• If (x, y) is a directed edge, we say

– y is adjacent to x
– y is successor of x
– x is predecessor of y
• In a directed graph, directed path, directed
cycle can be defined similarly

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 Multigraph
• A graph cannot have duplicate edges.
• Multigraph allows multiple edges and self
edge (or loop).

Self edge Multiple edge

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 Property of graph
• A undirected graph that is connected and
has no cycle is a tree.
• A tree with n nodes have exactly n-1
edges.
• A connected undirected graph with n
nodes must have at least n-1 edges.

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 Implementing Graph
• Adjacency matrix
– Represent a graph using a two-dimensional
array
• Adjacency list
– Represent a graph using n linked lists where
n is the number of vertices

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Adjacency matrix for directed graph
Matrix[i][j] = 1 if (vi, vj)E 1 2 3 4 5
0 if (vi, vj)E
v 1 v2 v 3 v4 v5

v2 1 v1 0 1 0 0 0
v1 v3 2 v 0 0 0 1 0
2

3 v3 0 1 0 1 0
v4 v5 4 v 4 0 0 0 0 0
5 v5 0 0 1 1 0
G
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 Adjacency matrix for weighted
undirected graph
Matrix[i][j] = w(vi, vj) if (vi, vj)E or (vj, vi)E
∞ otherwise
1 2 3 4 5
v2 v1 v2 v3 v4 v5
v1 2 v3
5 1 v1 ∞ 5 ∞ ∞ ∞
4 3 7 2 v2 5 ∞ 2 4 ∞
v4
8 v5 3 v3 0 2 ∞ 3 7
4 v4 ∞ 4 3 ∞ 8
G
5 v5 ∞ ∞ 7 8 ∞
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 Adjacency list for directed graph

1 v1 → v2
v2 2 v2 → v4
v1 v3
3 v3 → v2 → v4
4 v4
v4 v5
5 v5 → v3 → v4
G

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 Adjacency list for weighted
undirected graph

v2
v1 2 v3 1 v1 → v2(5)
5
4 2 v2 → v1(5) → v3(2) → v4(4)
3 7
3 v3 → v2(2) → v4(3) → v5(7)
v4
8 v5 4 v4 → v2(4) → v3(3) → v5(8)
5 v5 → v3(7) → v4(8)
G

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 Pros and Cons
• Adjacency matrix
– Allows us to determine whether there is an
edge from node i to node j in O(1) time
• Adjacency list
– Allows us to find all nodes adjacent to a given
node j efficiently
– If the graph is sparse, adjacency list requires
less space

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 Problems related to Graph
• Graph Traversal
• Topological Sort
• Spanning Tree
• Minimum Spanning Tree
• Shortest Path

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 Graph Traversal Algorithm
• To traverse a tree, we use tree traversal
algorithms like pre-order, in-order, and post-
order to visit all the nodes in a tree
• Similarly, graph traversal algorithm tries to visit
all the nodes it can reach.
• If a graph is disconnected, a graph traversal that
begins at a node v will visit only a subset of
nodes, that is, the connected component
containing v.

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 Two basic traversal algorithms
• Two basic graph traversal algorithms:
– Depth-first-search (DFS)
• After visit node v, DFS strategy proceeds along a
path from v as deeply into the graph as possible
before backing up
– Breadth-first-search (BFS)
• After visit node v, BFS strategy visits every node
adjacent to v before visiting any other nodes

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 Depth-first search (DFS)
• DFS strategy looks similar to pre-order. From a given
node v, it first visits itself. Then, recursively visit its
unvisited neighbours one by one.
• DFS can be defined recursively as follows.

Algorithm dfs(v)
print v; // you can do other things!
mark v as visited;
for (each unvisited node u adjacent to v)
dfs(u);

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 DFS example
• Start from v3
1
v3
2
v2 v2
v1 v3
x x x 3 4
v1 v 4
v4
x x v5
5
G v5
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 Non-recursive version of DFS
algorithm
Algorithm dfs(v)
s.createStack();
s.push(v);
mark v as visited;
while (!s.isEmpty()) {
let x be the node on the top of the stack s;
if (no unvisited nodes are adjacent to x)
s.pop(); // blacktrack
else {
select an unvisited node u adjacent to x;
s.push(u);
mark u as visited;
}
}
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 Non-recursive DFS example
visit stack
v3 v3
v2
v2 v3, v2
v1 v3
v1 v3, v2, v1
x x x
backtrack v3, v2
v4 v3, v2, v4
v4
x x v5
v5 v3, v2, v4 , v5
backtrack v3, v2, v4
backtrack v3, v2
backtrack v3
G
backtrack empty

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 Breadth-first search (BFS)
• BFS strategy looks similar to level-order. From a
given node v, it first visits itself. Then, it visits
every node adjacent to v before visiting any
other nodes.
– 1. Visit v
– 2. Visit all v’s neigbours
– 3. Visit all v’s neighbours’ neighbours
– …
• Similar to level-order, BFS is based on a queue.

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 Algorithm for BFS
Algorithm bfs(v)
q.createQueue();
q.enqueue(v);
mark v as visited;
while(!q.isEmpty()) {
w = q.dequeue();
for (each unvisited node u adjacent to w) {
q.enqueue(u);
mark u as visited;
}
}
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 BFS example
• Start from v5 Visit Queue
(front to
1 back)
v5 v5 v5

v2 v3 empty
v1
x x
2 3 v3 v3
v3 v4
x v4 v3, v4
v4

v4x x
4
v2 v2 v4, v2
v5 v2
G 5
empty

v1 v1 v1
empty
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 Topological order
• Consider the prerequisite structure for courses:

b d
a

c e
• Each node x represents a course x
• (x, y) represents that course x is a prerequisite to course y
• Note that this graph should be a directed graph without cycles
(called a directed acyclic graph).
• A linear order to take all 5 courses while satisfying all prerequisites
is called a topological order.
• E.g.
– a, c, b, e, d
– c, a, b, e, d

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 Topological sort
• Arranging all nodes in the graph in a topological
order

Algorithm topSort
n = |V|;
for i = 1 to n {
select a node v that has no successor;
aList.add(1, v);
delete node v and its edges from the graph;
}
return aList;
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 Example
b d b
a a

c c
e e
1. d has no 2. Both b and e have no
successor! successor! Choose e!
Choose d!
b b
a a
a
c
3. Both b and c have 4. Only b has no 5. Choose a!
no successor! successor! The topological order
Choose c! Choose b! is a,b,c,e,d
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 Topological sort algorithm 2
• This algorithm is based on DFS
Algorithm topSort2
s.createStack();
for (all nodes v in the graph) {
if (v has no predecessors) {
s.push(v);
mark v as visited;
}
}
while (!s.isEmpty()) {
let x be the node on the top of the stack s;
if (no unvisited nodes are adjacent to x) { // i.e. x has no unvisited successor
aList.add(1, x);
s.pop(); // blacktrack
} else {
select an unvisited node u adjacent to x;
s.push(u);
mark u as visited;
}
}
return aList;
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 Spanning Tree
• Given a connected undirected graph G, a
spanning tree of G is a subgraph of G that
contains all of G’s nodes and enough of its
edges to form a tree.
v2
v1 v3

v4 v5
Spanning
tree Spanning tree is not unique!
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 DFS spanning tree
• Generate the spanning tree edge during the
DFS traversal.

Algorithm dfsSpanningTree(v)
mark v as visited;
for (each unvisited node u adjacent to v) {
mark the edge from u to v;
dfsSpanningTree(u);
}

• Similar to DFS, the spanning tree edges can be

generated based on BFS traversal.
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Example of generating spanning
tree based on DFS
stack
v3 v3
v2
v2 v3, v2
v1 v3
v1 v3, v2, v1
x x x
backtrack v3, v2
v4 v3, v2, v4
v4
x x v5
v5 v3, v2, v4 , v5
backtrack v3, v2, v4
backtrack v3, v2
backtrack v3
G
backtrack empty
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 Minimum Spanning Tree
• Consider a connected undirected graph where
– Each node x represents a country x
– Each edge (x, y) has a number which measures the
cost of placing telephone line between country x and
country y
• Problem: connecting all countries while
minimizing the total cost
• Solution: find a spanning tree with minimum total
weight, that is, minimum spanning tree

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 Formal definition of minimum
spanning tree
• Given a connected undirected graph G.
• Let T be a spanning tree of G.
• cost(T) = eTweight(e)
• The minimum spanning tree is a spanning tree T
which minimizes cost(T)
v2
v1 2 v3
5 Minimum
4 3 spanning
7
tree
v4
8 v5
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 Prim’s algorithm (I)
v1 v2 v1 v2 v1 v2
5 2 v3 5 2 v3 5 2 v3
4 3 7 4 3 7 4 3 7
v4 8 v5 v4 8 v5 v4 8 v5
Start from v5, find the Find the minimum edge Find the minimum edge
minimum edge attach to v5 attach to v3 and v5 attach to v2, v3 and v5

v2 v2
v1 v1
2 v3 5 2 v3
5
4 3 7 4 3 7
8 v4 8 v5
v4 v5
Find the minimum edge
attach to v2, v3 , v4 and v5
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 Prim’s algorithm (II)
Algorithm PrimAlgorithm(v)
• Mark node v as visited and include it in the
minimum spanning tree;
• while (there are unvisited nodes) {
– find the minimum edge (v, u) between a visited node v
and an unvisited node u;
– mark u as visited;
– add both v and (v, u) to the minimum spanning tree;
}

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 Shortest path
• Consider a weighted directed graph
– Each node x represents a city x
– Each edge (x, y) has a number which represent the
cost of traveling from city x to city y
• Problem: find the minimum cost to travel from
city x to city y
• Solution: find the shortest path from x to y

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 Formal definition of shortest
path
• Given a weighted directed graph G.
• Let P be a path of G from x to y.
• cost(P) = ePweight(e)
• The shortest path is a path P which minimizes
cost(P)
v2
v1 2 v3
5
4 3 Shortest Path
4
v4
8 v5
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 Dijkstra’s algorithm
• Consider a graph G, each edge (u, v) has
a weight w(u, v) > 0.
• Suppose we want to find the shortest path
starting from v1 to any node vi
• Let VS be a subset of nodes in G
• Let cost[vi] be the weight of the shortest
path from v1 to vi that passes through
nodes in VS only.

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 Example for Dijkstra’s algorithm
v1 v2 2 v3
5
4 3 4
v4
8 v5
v VS cost[v1] cost[v2] cost[v3] cost[v4] cost[v5]
1 [v1] 0 5 ∞ ∞ ∞

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 Example for Dijkstra’s algorithm
v2
v1 2 v3
5
4 3 4
v4
8 v5
v VS cost[v1] cost[v2] cost[v3] cost[v4] cost[v5]
1 [v1] 0 5 ∞ ∞ ∞
2 v2 [v1, v2] 0 5 ∞ 9 ∞

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 Example for Dijkstra’s algorithm
v2
v1 2 v3
5
4 3 4
v4
8 v5
v VS cost[v1] cost[v2] cost[v3] cost[v4] cost[v5]
1 [v1] 0 5 ∞ ∞ ∞
2 v2 [v1, v2] 0 5 ∞ 9 ∞
3 v4 [v1, v2, v4] 0 5 12 9 17

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 Example for Dijkstra’s algorithm
v2
v1 2 v3
5
4 3 4
v4
8 v5
v VS cost[v1] cost[v2] cost[v3] cost[v4] cost[v5]
1 [v1] 0 5 ∞ ∞ ∞
2 v2 [v1, v2] 0 5 ∞ 9 ∞
3 v4 [v1, v2, v4] 0 5 12 9 17
4 v3 [v1, v2, v4, v3] 0 5 12 9 16
5 v5 [v1, v2, v4, v3, v5] 0 5 12 9 16
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 Dijkstra’s algorithm
Algorithm shortestPath()
n = number of nodes in the graph;
for i = 1 to n
cost[vi] = w(v1, vi);
VS = { v1 };
for step = 2 to n {
find the smallest cost[vi] s.t. vi is not in VS;
include vi to VS;
for (all nodes vj not in VS) {
if (cost[vj] > cost[vi] + w(vi, vj))
cost[vj] = cost[vi] + w(vi, vj);
}
}

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 Summary
• Graphs can be used to represent many real-life
problems.
• There are numerous important graph algorithms.
• We have studied some basic concepts and
algorithms.
– Graph Traversal
– Topological Sort
– Spanning Tree
– Minimum Spanning Tree
– Shortest Path

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