UNIT-IV

Backtracking
By

Dr.M.Rajababu

Associate Professor
Dept of Information Technology
Aditya Engineering College(A)
Surampalem.
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Backtracking
• Backtracking is a systematic method for searching one or more solutions of the
problem among all available options.
• It is used for finding all possible solutions (solutions space)for the given problem.
• This approach is used to solve problems that have multiple solutions. If you want
an optimal solution, you must go for dynamic programming.
• In this approach , we use the following steps to give the solution to the problem:
1.start with a sub solution
2.check if the sub solution leads to the final solution or not.
3.If not come back and change the sub solution and continue again.

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Backtracking
• We can represent the solution space for the problem using a state space tree.
• A space state tree is a tree representing all the possible states(solution or non
solution) of the problem from the root as an initial state to the leaf as a terminal
state.

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Backtracking
• In this method the desired solution is expressed as an n-tuple x1,x2,……,xn where
xi chosen from some finite set S.
• All solutions satisfy two types of constraints:
1.Explicite constraints
-These are the rules that restrict each xi to take values from finite set S.
2.Implicite constraints
-These are the rules that determine which solution set satisfies the criteria
function or bounding function.

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Backtracking
• We formulate this solution using either Fixed or variable sized Tuple
representations.
· In Fixed Sized Tuple representation the solution subset is represented
by n-Tuple where the elements in this solution vector are either 0 or
1.
· In Variable Size representation we represent our solution set with
the elements in the actual set.

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Backtracking
• Some problems solved with Backtracking technique are:
• N-Queens problem
• Sum of subsets problem
• Graph coloring problem
• Hamiltonian cycle problem
• Knapsack problem
• Sudoku Puzzle
• Rat in a Maze problem

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N-Queens problem
• The N-Queens is the problem of placing N chess queens on an N×N chessboard so
that no two queens attack each other.
• Two queens attack each other if they are in same row,column or diagonal.

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4-Queens problem
• 4-Queens problem is the problem of placing 4-Queens on a 4X4 chessboard such
that no two queens attack each other.
• following are two solutions for 4 Queen problem:

The solutions for 4-Queens

problem:
1.(2,4,1,3)
2.(3,1,4,2)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

8-Queens problem
• 8-Queens problem is the problem of placing 8-Queens on an 8X8 chessboard
such that no two queens attack each other.
• following are three possible solutions for 8- Queens problem:

1.(1,5,8,6,3,7,2,4)
2.(1,6,8,3,7,4,2,5)
3. (2,4,6,8,3,1,7,5)

• The eight queens problem has 92 distinct solutions

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 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

N-Queens problem
• In N-Queens problem the two queens Q1,Q2 at positions (i,j) and (k,l) are on the
same diagonal
If i-j=k-l-----(1)
i+j=k+l-----(2)
• From equation(1) j-l=i-k ----(3)
• From equation(2) j-l=k-i ---(4)
• From equation (3) and(4)
• |j-l|=|i-k|
• Therefore, two queens lie on the duplicate diagonal if and only if |j-l|=|i-k|

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Algorithm N -Queens (k, n)

{
for i = 1 to n
if Place (k, i) then//Place (k, i) returns true if a queen can be placed in the kth row and ith column
otherwise returnsfalse
{
x [k] = i;
if (k ==n) then
write (x [1:n]);
else
N-Queens (k + 1,n);
}
}
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Place (k, i)
{
for j = 1 to k - 1
if (x [j] = i) //same column
or (Abs( x [j] - i) = (Abs (j - k)) //same diagonal
return false;
return true;
}
• Time complexity T(n)=n*T(n-1)+c
• T(n)=O(n!)

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Sum of subsets problem

• Subset sum problem is to find subset of elements that are selected
from a given set S,whose sum adds up to a given number m.
EX: let A be a set A={5,7,10,12,15,18,20} and given sum m=35
• Following are the possible solutions:
1. {15,20},
2. {18,7,10},
3. {5,10,20}, and {18,12,5}

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Sum of subsets problem

• Assumption and considerations of this problem are :
• set contains non-negative values.
• input set is unique (no duplicates are presented).

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• We formulate this solution using either Fixed or variable sized Tuple

representations.
· In Fixed Sized Tuple representation the solution subset is represented
by n-Tuple where the elements in this solution vector are either 0 or 1.
· In Variable Size representation we represent our solution set with the
elements in the actual set.
• Ex: A= (11, 13, 24, 7) & m = 31
· For Above example the fixed size Tuple is
• (1,1,0,1) or (0,0,1,1)
· the variable sized Tuple is
· (11, 13, 7) , (24, 7)
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A= (11, 13, 24, 7) & m = 31

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

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Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Graph coloring problem

• The problem is, given m colors, find a way of coloring the vertices of a graph G
with minimum number of colors such that no two adjacent vertices have same
color.
• The smallest number of colors needed to color a graph G is called its chromatic
number(X(G)).

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M-Coloring problem
• The problem is to find if it is possible to assign nodes with m different colors,
such that no two adjacent vertices of the Graph G are of the same colors. If
the solution exists, then display which color is assigned on which vertex.

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Hamiltonian cycles problem

• In this problem, we determine whether a given graph contains
Hamiltonian Cycle or not. If it contains, then prints the path.
• In an undirected Graph, Hamiltonian path is a path that visits each
vertex exactly once.
• Hamiltonian cycle or circuit is a Hamiltonian path that ends at the
starting vertex.
• A graph having Hamiltonian cycles is called Hamiltonian Graph.
• we can find the Hamiltonian Circuits using Backtracking approach.

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024

 Aditya Engineering College (A)

0/1 Knapsack problem

Item 1 2 3 4
Weight 2 3 4 5
Profit 3 5 6 10

m=8
Optimal solution X={0,1,0,1}
Maximum profit=15

Design&analysisof Algorithms M.Raja Babu Thursday, December 5, 2024