GRAPHS

INTRODUCTION

We have studied one non-linear data structure so far i.e Trees. A graph is another nonlinear data structure that is widely used to solve many real-life computing problems. For
example, we need to use a graph to find out whether two places on a road-map are
connected and what is the shortest distance between them. Graphs are used in simulating
electrical circuits to find out current flows and voltage drops at various points in the circuit.
Graphs are widely used in telephone and computer networks.
Graphs have great historical significance too. In 1736, the famous mathematician Euler
used the concept of a graph to solve the Koenigsberg problem. In the small town of
Koenisberg in Prussia, the river Pregal flows around the island of Kneiphof and then
divides into two. The four land areas ( A, B, C, D) bordering the river are connected by
seven bridges ( a,b,c,d,e,f,g). The problem is to find out whether it is possible to start
walking from some area, cross each bridge exactly once and return to the starting land
area. Euler used graphs to prove that this would not be possible. A walk which achieves this
is called an Eulerian Walk.

{{{ Diagram }}}

In this chapter, we will study this data structure, its implementation and its
applications. Before that, we will study some definitions and terminology.

DEFINITIONS AND TERMINOLOGY

Graph
A graph G is a collection of two sets V and E. V is a finite non empty set of vertices
(or nodes) and E is a finite non empty set of edges (or arcs) connecting a pair of vertices.
An edge is represented by two adjacent vertices G is represented as G = (V,E)
Example
10 - 1

10 - 2
Graphs

V
V

V
G

G
V

G 1= ( V ,E )
V = { V 1, V 2 V 3, V 4}
E = { ( V 1, V 2) , ( V 2, V 3) }
( V 3 , V 4) , ( V 4, V 1) }

V
7

Some examples of graphs

Undirected Graph
A graph is an undirected graph if the pairs of vertices that make up the edges are
unordered pairs.
i.e. an edge(Vi, Vj ) is the same as (Vj, Vi). The graph G1 shown above is an undirected
graph.

Directed Graph
In a directed graph, each edge is represented by a pair of ordered vertices i.e. an edge
has a specific direction.
In such a case, edge (Vi, Vj) (Vj, Vi)
Example

V
V

Directed graph

G5

= (V,E)

= { V1, V2, V3, V4}

10 - 3
Graphs

= { (V1, V2 ), (V1,V4), (V2, V4), (V1, V3) }

For an edge (Vi, Vj) in a directed graph, vertex Vi is called the tail and V j is the head of
the edge. Vi is adjacent to Vj and Vj is adjacent from Vi.

Complete Graph
If an undirected graph has n vertices, the maximum number of edges it can have is
nC2 = n (n-1) / 2. If an undirected graph G has n vertices and nC2 edges, it is called a
complete graph.
If the graph G is directed and has n vertices, G is complete if it has n(n-1) edges.

Multigraph
A multigraph is a graph in which the set of edges may have multiple occurrences of the
same edge. Note that it is not a graph.

Degree of Vertex
The degree of a vertex in an undirected graph is the number of edges incident to that
vertex.
In the undirected graph G1, the degree of each vertex = 2.

Indegree of a Vertex
If G is a directed graph, the indegree of a vertex is the number of edges for which it is
head i.e. the numbers edges coming to it.
Example In graph G5, indegree

(V4)

= 2

indegree

(V1)

= 0

A node whose indegree is 0 is called a source node.

Outdegree of a vertex
If G is directed graph, the out degree of a vertex is the number of edges for which it is
the tail i.e. the number of edges going out of it.
Example

outdegree (V1) = 3
outdegree (V2) = 1

A node whose outdegree is 0 is called a sink node.

10 - 4
Graphs

Adjacent vertices
If (Vi, Vj) is an edge in G, then we say that V i and Vj are adjacent and the edge (V i, Vj) is
incident on Vi and Vj.

Path
A path from vertex Vp to Vq exists if there exists vertices Vi 1, Vi2, ..Vin such that there
exist edges (Vp, Vi1) , (Vi1, Vi2),(Vin, Vq)

Length of a Path
The length of a path is the number of edges on it.

Linear Path
A linear path is a path whose first and last vertices are distinct.

Cycle
A cycle is a path whose first and last vertices are the same.
Example V1 V2 V3 V1 is a cycle in G4. A graph with no cycles is called an acyclic
graph. A directed acyclic graph is called dag.

Connected Graph
Two vertices Vi and Vj are said to be connected if there is a path in G from Vi to Vj.
Strongly Connected Graph: A directed graph G is said to be strongly connected if for
every pair of distinct vertices V i, Vj, there is a directed path from V i to Vj and also from
Vj to Vi.
Weakly Connected Graph : A directed graph G is said to be weakly connected there
exists atleast one set of distinct vertices V i, Vj, such that there is a directed path from V i to
Vj but no path from Vj to Vi.
Example: The following is a weakly connected graph because there is a path from V 1 to V4
but none from V4 to V1.

V
V

10 - 5
Graphs

Subgraph
A subgraph of G is a graph G such that V(G) V(G) and E(G) E(G)
Example: The subgraphs of G1 are

V
V

Subgraphs of G1

Forest
A Forest is defined as an acyclic graph in which every node has one or no predecessors.

Weighted Graph or Network

A number (weight) may be associated with each edge of a graph. Such a graph is called
a weighted graph or a network.
Example
The represent the distance, cost, etc.

10
V

5
V

6
Weighted Graph

Spanning Tree
When a graph G is connected, a traversal method visits all its vertices. In this case the
edges of G are partitioned into two sets.
T for the edges traversed.
B (Back edges) which were not traversed.
The edges in T form a tree which connects all vertices of graph G. Such a tree is called a
spanning tree.
A spanning tree consists of the minimum number of edges to connect all the vertices.
Example

10 - 6
Graphs

g ra p h

( i)

( ii)

( iii)

S p a n n in g tr e e s
A graph and its spanning trees

Minimum Cost Spanning Tree

The spanning tree having the minimum sum of weights of edges is called minimum cost
spanning tree.
These weights may represent the lengths, distances, cost, etc.
Such trees are widely used in practical applications such as network of road lines
between cities, etc.

Spanning Forest
A spanning forest of a graph G = ( V, E) is a collection of vertex disjoint trees Ti = (V i, Ei),
1 i k such that V = Vi for all 1 i k and Ei E(G), 1 i k

GRAPH REPRESENTATION
To represent a graph in memory, we will have to store data in such a way that the
information about vertices and edges can be correctly stored and it is possible to extract the
required information and manipulate it. Hence, it is important to select the correct method
of implementation so that algorithms may be applied on the graph.
Several representations for graphs are possible. However, we shall be studying only
three of them.
i.

Adjacency matrix

ii.

Adjacency list

iii.

Adjacency multilist
The choice of a particular representation will depend upon the application.

10 - 7
Graphs

Adjacency Matrix

The adjacency matrix A of a graph G is a two dimensional array of n n elements where

n is the numbers of vertices. The entries of A are defined as
A[i][j] = 1, if there exist an edge between vertices i and j in G.
A[i][j] = 0, if no edge exists between i and j.
Example

g ra p h G

G ra p h G

Adjacency Matrix

The adjacency matrix for an undirected graph will be a symmetric matrix. To find out
whether vertex j is adjacent to vertex i, the matrix element A[i][j] will have to be checked. If
it is 0, it indicates that j is not adjacent to i.

Class definition
The class definition for a graph represented as an adjacency matrix will be :
classgraph
{
intA[10][10];//adjacencymatrix
intno_of_vertices;
public:
//memberfunctions
}

10 - 8
Graphs

Calculation of Degree
i.

Undirected graph

From the adjacency matrix, it is very easy to calculate the degree of vertices of an
undirected graph.
The degree of vertex i is the number of 1s in its row (or the sum of row i )
ii.

Directed graph

(Indegree) For a directed graph, the indegree of vertex i is the sum of elements in
column i, i.e.total number of 1s in column i.
(Outdegree) The outdegree of a vertex i is the sum of row i (i.e. number of 1s in row
i)

Adjacency List

The above method of representation has one major drawback. It uses arrays and hence is
memory inefficient.
Adjacency list is a linked representation of a graph. In this representation, there is one
list for each vertex v in the graph. Each list stores the vertices which are adjacent to vertex
v. Thus, for a graph with n vertices, there are n lists.
Each node of the list i contains two fields - Vertex and Link:
i. Vertex - Vertex number which is adjacent to vertex i.
ii. Link - Pointer to the next node in the list.
Each list has a head node. The array of all head-nodes represents the graph.
Example:
The adjacency list for graph G6 will be

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

Adjacency List for G6

The adjacency list for graph G7 will be

10 - 9
Graphs

NULL

NU LL

NULL

N ULL

NULL
Adjacency list for G7

Node Structure
The structure definition will be
classgraphnode
{
intvertex;
graphnode*next;
};
The graph will now be defined as an array of pointers, each pointing to a list of nodes.
classlistgraph
{
graphnode*list[MAX];//arrayofpointers
intn;//numberofvertices
public:
//operations
};
The following program implements a graph using an adjacency list. We will have to
create the list for each vertex by accepting adjacency information from the user. Starting
with vertex 1, we will build the adjacency list till the lists for all the vertices have been
created. Each list will be created in the same manner as we created a singly linked list i.e
by creating nodes and attaching them to the end of the list.

Program : Creation of Adjacency List

classlistgraph;//forwarddeclaration
classgraphnode

10 - 10
Graphs

{
intvertex;
graphnode*next;
public:
graphnode(intn=0)//constructor
{
vertex=n;
next=NULL;
}
friendclassgraph;
};
classlistgraph
{
graphnode*list[MAX];//arrayofpointers
intn;//numberofvertices
public:
listgraph(intnov)//constructor
{
n=nov;
for(intj=0; j<n;j++)
list[j]=NULL;
}
voidcreate();
voiddisplay();
};

voidlistgraph::create()
{
inti,j;
graphnode*temp,*newnode;
charans;
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{

for(j=0;j<n;j++)

{
cout<<\nIsthereanedgebetweenvertex<<i+1<<and<<j+1;

cin>>ans;

if(ans==y)
{
newnode=newgraphnode(j+1);//callconstructor

10 - 11
Graphs

/***Attachnewnodetolisti****/

if(list[i]==NULL)

list[i]=temp=newnode;

else

temp>next=newnode;

temp=newnode;

}/*endif*/

}/*endfor*/
}/*endfor*/
}
voidlistgraph::display()
{
graphnode*temp;
inti;
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
cout<<endl;

cout<<"Vertex"<<i+1<<>;

temp=list[i];

while(temp!=NULL)/**Traverselisti**/

cout<<"v<<temp>vertex<<>;

temp=temp>next;

cout<<"NULL";
}
}
intmain()
{
intn;
cout<<Enterthenumberofvertices:";
cin>>n;
listgraphg(n);
g.create();
g.display();
return0;
}
Inverse Adjacency List

From the adjacency list we can calculate the outdegree of any vertex i. The total number
of nodes in list i is its outdegree.

10 - 12
Graphs

To obtain the indegree, we can construct an inverse adjacency list. The inverse adjacency
list of G7 is as shown.

N U LL
NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

Inverse Adjacency list for G7

Orthogonal List

In certain applications, we may require the indegree as well as outdegree of a vertex. In

such cases, instead of maintaining two separate lists, we can use only one representation
which will allow us to calculate indegree as well as outdegree. Such a representation is
called an orthogonal list.
The node structure of an orthogonal list for any directed edge (Vi, Vj) is
Vi

Vj

Link of Vi

Link of Vj

The link of Vi points to the node where Vi is the tail and link of V j points to the node
where Vj is the head.
Example
3

1
2

H ead
1

T a il
1

2
3

Orthogonal List

Adjacency Multilist

10 - 13
Graphs

In the above representations, an undirected edge V i, Vj will be represented twice, once in

the list of Vi and once in the list for Vj. To avoid redundancy, we can use an adjacency
multilist where each edge is stored only once and can be shared among more than one
vertices.
An adjacency multilist consists of several lists in which nodes can be shared among
several lists.
The node structure is
flag

Vi

Vj

Path i

Path j

The flag is used to indicate whether edge (Vi, Vj) has been considered or not.
Pathi is the pointer to the next edge where vertex Vi appears.
Pathj is the pointer to the next edge where Vj appears.
Example
V

e1
V

e
2

e5

e2
3

e6
V

e1

e3

e1

e5

e2

e4

e6

e3

e5

e6

V
V

vi vj

pi p

e4

e3

e6

e4

e6

e5

e5

e1
2

e6

Adjacency Multilist

There are 6 edges, e1 to e6 which are <1,2> , <1,3>, <1,4>, <2,3>, <2,4> and <3,4>. The
edges are shown with Vi representing the head and Vj the tail. Pi represents the next edge
where Vi is present and Pj represents the next edge where Vj is present. For example, in
the node for e1 , Pi is e2 where vertex 1 next appears and Pj is e 4 where vertex 2 next
appears

10 - 14
Graphs

To find the adjacency list for any vertex, we start traversal from the node of that vertex.
For example, if we wanted the list corresponding to vertex 1, we have to start from node V1.
From that node, it proceeds as follows:
Node V1 points to e1. In e1, the edge is (1,2). Vertex 1 is Vi. Hence , we select Pi i.e, e 2.
In e2 i.e. (1,3) we take the path to e3.
In e3 i.e. (1,4) we select the path Pi i.e NULL
V1 : e1 e2 e3 NULL
For vertex V2, we begin from edge, e1. Since 2 is Vj, we select path Pj i.e e4.
In e4, 2 is Vi. Hence we take path e5.
In e5 ,2 is Vi. Hence we reach NULL

V2 : e1 e4 e5 NULL
Similarly we get,
V3 : e2 e4 e6 NULL
V4 : e3 e5 e6 NULL

GRAPH TRAVERSALS
Traversal is the method to reach every vertex of a graph. Graph traversals are more
complicated as compared to tree traversals because a single vertex may be visited many
times and the traversal may not terminate.
Hence, we also need a method of identifying a vertex, which has been visited previously
so that we dont keep traversing from the same vertex again and again. This can be done
by using a flag ( a variable) which will store 0 if the vertex is not visited and 1 if visited.
Two methods are used for graph traversal

Depth First Search

Breadth First Search

Depth First Search

This method is similar to the preorder tree traversal method.

Starting from a particular vertex v which is unvisited, we visit its unvisited adjacent
vertex, mark it visited and continue in the same way from this vertex till we reach a vertex
which does not have any unvisited neighbor. That is, starting from vertex v, we follow a

10 - 15
Graphs

path in the graph as deeply as we can go marking the vertices in the path as visited.
When there are no adjacent vertices that are not visited, we proceed backwards (back track)
to a vertex in the path which has an unvisited adjacent vertex and proceed from this
vertex. The process continues till all vertices have been visited.
The process terminates when no unvisited vertex can be reached from any of the visited
vertices.
Example

V
V
V

Depth First Search

This algorithm can be written in two ways

i.

i.

Recursive

ii.

Non recursive

Recursive Depth First Search

We start with vertex v and mark it visited. A vertex w, which is adjacent to v and not
visited, is selected. A recursive call is given to the Depth First Search from w. The process
stops when all vertices are visited.
We require a global array visited of size n , which is initialized to zero.
AlgorithmrecDFS(intv)
//visitedisaglobalarrayinitializedtozero
//visthestartingvertex
{
visited[v]=1;/*Markvvisited*/

10 - 16
Graphs

displayv
foreachvertexwadjacenttovdo
if(wisnotvisited)then
recDFS(w);//recursivecall
}

ii.

Non Recursive Depth First Search

In the non-recursive traversal, we require a stack in order to backtrack. The process

starts from vertex v. We mark this vertex visited and push it into the stack. We then find
an adjacent vertex w, which is unvisited. Mark it visited and push it into the stack. This
becomes our current vertex . The same process is followed till we reach a vertex which does
not have any adjacent unvisited vertex.
At this point, we pop a vertex from the stack and proceed in the same manner. The
process continues till the stack becomes empty.
Algorithm

1.

Initialize visited array to 0

2.

v is the starting vertex

3.

Visited [v] = 1

4.

display v.

5.

Push v into stack

6.

Search for w which is an unvisited vertex adjacent to v.

7.

if w is found
visited[w] = 1
display w
push w into stack
v = w i.e. w becomes the current vertex.
Go to step 6

8.

v = pop

9.

Continue from 5 till stack becomes empty.

10.

Stop

For example, consider the graph in Fig 10.12 above. Here, we start from vertex V 1. The
steps are shown below.

10 - 17
Graphs

V1

Visited

Stack

V1

V1

V1

V2

V1 V2

V1 V2

V2

V4

V1V2 V4

V1V2 V4

V4

V8

V1V2 V4 V8

V1V2 V4 V8

V8

V5

V1V2 V4 V8 V5

V1V2 V4 V8 V5

V5

Not found

V1V2 V4 V8 V5

V1V2 V4

Pop

V8

V6

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6

V1V2 V4 V6

Pop

V6

V3

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3

V1V2 V4 V6 V3

V3

V7

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3 V7

V1V2 V4 V6 V3 V7

V7

Not found

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3 V7

V1V2 V4 V6 V3

Pop

V7

Not found

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3 V7

V1V2 V4 V6

Pop

V3

Not found

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3 V7

V1V2 V4

Pop

V6

Not found

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3 V7

V1V2

Pop

V4

Not found

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3 V7

V1

Pop

V2

Not found

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3 V7

Empty

Pop

V1

Not found

V1V2 V4 V8 V5 V6 V3 V7

Empty

DFS and Connected Components

When DFS is initiated from a vertex v, DFS visits all vertices connected to v. So, all the
vertices visited and the edges in G, which are incident on these vertices forms a connected
component of G. Thus, DFS can be used to find all connected components of G by making
repeated calls to DFS.

Breadth First Search

The Breadth First Search ( BFS ) is the level-wise traversal of a graph. In the Breadth
first search method, we start at vertex v. Then all unvisited vertices w adjacent to v are

10 - 18
Graphs

visited. Then the unvisited vertices adjacent to w are visited and so on. The process
continues till there are no more unvisited adjacent vertices left to visit.
For the above graph in Fig 3.12, BFS will yield
V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7, V8
We require a queue to implement BFS. The method of BFS is very simple. Starting with a
vertex v, we add it to the queue. Remove v from the queue and display. All its adjacent
unvisited vertices are added to the queue. These are removed one-by-one from the queue
and their adjacent unvisited vertices are added to the queue. The process continues till the
queue becomes empty.
Algorithm

1.

Initialize visited array to 0.

2.

v is the starting vertex.

3.

Q is an empty queue.

4.

Visited [v] = 1

5.

Add v to queue

6.

Remove v from queue and display v.

7.

for all vertices w adjacent to v

if w is unvisited
add w to queue
visited[w] = 1

8.

Continue from 6 till queue becomes empty.

9.

Stop

The steps can be shown as follows for the graph in Fig 10.11.
v

V1
V1

V2 V3

Visited

Queue

V1

V1

V1 V2 V3

V2 V3

10 - 19
Graphs

V2

V4 V5

V1V2 V3V4 V5

V3V4 V5

V3

V6 V7

V1V2 V3V4 V5 V6 V7

V4 V5 V6 V7

V4

V8

V1V2 V3V4 V5 V6 V7 V8

V5 V6 V7 V8

V5

Not found

V1V2 V3V4 V5 V6 V7 V8

V6 V7 V8

V6

Not found

V1V2 V3V4 V5 V6 V7 V8

V7 V8

V7

Not found

V1V2 V3V4 V5 V6 V7 V8

V8

V8

Not found

V1V2 V3V4 V5 V6 V7 V8

Empty

We can also perform BFS for a graph stored as an adjacency list. The following program
illustrates this.

APPLICATIONS OF GRAPHS
Graphs can be used in various applications like
i.

Representation of electric circuits. Calculation of current flows, voltage drops at

various points in the circuits.

ii.

Maps indicating connectivity and distances between different places.

iii.

Telephone and computer networking.

iv.

Routing from one location to another.

v.

Scheduling of interdependent tasks or activities in an AOV (Activity on Vertex )

Network.

vi.

Computing project completion time, delays, early start and late finish times for a
project, which is made up of several tasks.

vii.

Computing the critical path in an AOE (Activity on Edge) Network using CPM
( Critical Path Method).

viii.

Several sophisticated techniques like PERT ( Performance Evaluation and Review

Technique), RAMPS ( Resource Allocation and Multi-Project Scheduling) have been
developed to evaluate projects which can be represented using network models. These
techniques extensively use graphs.

10 - 20
Graphs

We will be studying some of the most commonly used applications of a graph. Finding
the Minimal Spanning tree in a graph and Computing the Shortest Path.

Connected Components and Spanning Trees

An undirected graph is said to be connected if every vertex is reachable from every
other vertex in the graph.
In the case of an undirected graph, a connected component of an undirected graph is
a maximal connected subgraph. This means that a connected component of an undirected
graph is a connected subgraph containing all edges incident to any of its vertices such that
no vertex outside the subgraph is reachable from any vertex in the sub graph.
A directed graph is said to be strongly connected if for every pair of distinct vertices vi
and vj, there is a directed path from vi to vj and also from vj to vi. In the following graph,
there are two strongly connected components.

{2,4,3} and {2,6,4}

Spanning Trees
If G is a graph containing n vertices, then the minimum number of edges needed to
connect the n vertices = n-1. All connected graphs with n-1 edges are trees. These are
called spanning trees.
Definition of Spanning Tree : Let G = (V, E) be an undirected connected graph. A
subgraph t = (V, E) of G is a spanning tree of G iff t is a tree.
A minimum spanning tree is a spanning tree with the lowest number of edges.

10 - 21
Graphs

For example, the vertices of graph G may represent cities and the edges may represent
the roads linking these cities. In order to connect all cities, we will need n-1 links. However,
there may be many feasible combinations of the total n-1 links. Thus, a graph may have
many spanning trees as seen below.

Minimum Spanning Trees of (i)

DFS Spanning Tree

The spanning tree resulting from a call to DFS is known as the DFS spanning tree. The
edges of G traversed by the DFS method form a spanning tree.
BFS Spanning Tree

The spanning tree resulting from a call to BFS is known as the BFS spanning tree. The
edges of G traversed by the BFS method form a spanning tree.

If the starting vertex is V1, The DFS of this graph is V1 V2 V5 V3 V6 V4 and the BFS is V1
V2 V3 V4 V5 V6
In practical situations, the edges will have some weights associated with them. These
may be the distance of the link, Cost of construction etc. Thus, we may want to select the set
of edges which will result in lowest cost of construction or having minimum total length.
Hence we are interested in finding out the spanning tree having minimum total cost.
A minimum Cost spanning tree is a spanning tree whose sum of costs of the edges is
minimum.

10 - 22
Graphs

We shall be studying two algorithms for finding the Minimum Cost Spanning tree.

1.

1.

Prims Algorithm

2.

Kruskals Algorithm

Prims Algorithm

This algorithm builds the minimum cost spanning tree edge by edge. The edge to be
included in the tree T is chosen according to some optimization criteria. The criterion used
here, is to select the edge (u,v) having the smallest cost such that (u,v) is not already in the
tree and T U {(uv)} is also a tree. While including (u,v) we must ensure that it does not
form a cycle. The edge addition is repeated till T contains n1 edges.
What is done in the Prims method is to select a previously unselected edge having the
lowest weight. If it does not form a cycle in the graph, it is added to the tree otherwise it is
rejected. The edge added to the tree is marked as visited so that it is not selected again. The
process completes when we have added n-1 edges to the tree.
Let us apply this method to the following graph to obtain its minimum cost spanning
tree.
20
v1
v2
8
7
v
3

v7
v6

15

11
v5

9
v4
10

Graph for Prims Algorithm

Step

Consider

Select

Spanning Tree

v1

1.

(V1, V6)

(V1, V6)

v6

10 - 23
Graphs

v1

2.

(V1, V2),
(V5, V6)

(V5, V6)

v6

v5

15

v1

3.

(V1, V2), (V5, V7),

(V4, V5)

4
(V4, V5)

v6

v4

v5

15

10

v1

4.

(V1, V2), (V5, V7),

(V3, V4), (V4, V7)

(V3, V4)

v3

4
6
v6

15

v5

v1

5.

(V1, V2), (V5, V7),

(V4, V7), (V2, V3)

(V2, V3)

v4
10
v2

8
v3

4
6
v6

15

v5

v4
10

10 - 24
Graphs

v1

v2

7
6.

(V1, V2), (V5, V7),

(V4, V7), (V2, V7)

(V2, V7)

v7
v6

7.
8.
9.

(V1, V2), (V5, V7),

(V4, V7)
(V5, V7), (V1, V2)
(V1, V2)

v3

15

(V4, V7)

Forms a cycle

(V5, V7)
(V1, V2)

Forms a cycle
Forms a cycle

v5

6
v4
10

The algorithm for the above method is given below

AlgorithmPRIMS(E,Cost,n)
{
/*EisthesetofedgesinG,Costistheadjacencycostmatrix,n
arethenumberofvertices*/
T={0};/*Startwithvertex0andnoedges*/
while(Tcontainslessthann1edges)
{
select(u,v)fromEsuchthatcost[u,v]isminimumanduTandvT
If(u,v)isfoundthen
AddvtoT
else
break;
}
if(T containsfewerthann1edgesprintNospanningtree)
}

2.

Kruskals Algorithm

In the Prims algorithm studied earlier, at any stage, the set of selected edges must form
a tree.
In the Kruskals algorithm, however, the set of edges may not be a tree at all stages. The
set will generally be a forest and can be completed into a tree iff there are no cycles in the
set. The edges will be considered one by one such that it has minimum cost among the
remaining edges and does not form a cycle.

10 - 25
Graphs

The method is simple. The spanning tree T is constructed edge by edge. We select the
edges one-by-one. We select an unvisited edge having smallest cost and add it to the
partially complete spanning tree. If the edge forms a cycle, it is not considered. When n-1
edges have been added to the spanning tree, the process stops.
Example
20

v1

v2

8
v3

7
4

v7
11
v6

15

v5

9
v4
10

Graph for Kruskals Algorithm

Step
1

Consider
(V1, V6)

Spanning Tree

v1

v2
v3

2.

(V3, V4)

v7

v6

v5

v1

v2

v4

v3
4

v7
6
v6

v5

v4

10 - 26
Graphs
3.

(V2, V7)

v2

v1

v3

7
4

v7
6

4.

(V2, V3)

v6

v5

v1

v2

v4

8
v3

7
4

v7
6
v6

5.
6.

(V4, V7)
(V4, V5)

v4

v5

Forms a Cycle, Reject

v2

v1

8
v3

7
4

v7
6
v6

7.
8.

(V5, V7)
(V5, V6)

v5

v4
10

Forms a Cycle, Reject

v2

v1

8
v3

7
4

v7
6
v6

The Algorithm can be written as follows:

15

v5

v4
10

10 - 27
Graphs

AlgorithmKruskal(E,cost,n)
{
T=0;/*startwithaTreehavingnoedges*/
While(Tcontainslessthann1edgesandEisnotempty)
{
chooseedge(u,v)fromEsuchthatcost[u,v]isminimum
delete (u,v)fromE
if(u,v)doesnotcreateacycleinT
add(u,v)toT
else
discard(u,v)
}
if(Tcontainsfewerthann1edges)
Printnospanningtree
}
Comparing Prims and Kruskals Algorithm

Both produce identical trees when edge weights are distinct. When G is connected,
Kruskals algorithm cannot produce a forest. When no weights are equal, then random edge
selection cannot occur.

Shortest Path
Graphs may be used to represent the road network of a state or country with the vertices
representing cities and the edges representing the connecting roads. Each edge may be
assigned a weight, which may be the distance between the two vertices or the time taken to
go from one vertex to another.
A person wishing to travel from city A to city B could require the following information.
i.

Is there a path from A to B?

ii.

If there is more than one path from A to B, which is the shortest?

An algorithm devised by Dijkstra is a single source all destinations algorithm which

gives the shortest paths from a given vertex (source) to all other vertices in the network.
Inputs

1.

This algorithm takes the input graphs in the form of a cost matrix which is an
adjacency matrix with each element,
A[i] [j]

= cost of edge (i,j), if it exists

= infinity, otherwise

10 - 28
Graphs

2.

visited is an array of n elements which indicates whether a vertex has been visited or
not.

3.

dist is an array of n elements which stores the distances of all vertices from the source
vertex.

Algorithm

1.

V is the starting vertex

2.

Initialize visited array to 0.

3.

Initialize all elements of distance array as

dist [i]= cost [v] [i]

4.

visited[v] = 1

5.

num = 1

6.

while (num < n)

{
u = choose(dist, n) ; num = num + 1;
/* choose is a function which returns u such that dist[u] = min{ dist [w]}
where visited[w] is false */
for w = 1 to n
{

if (! visited[w])
if (dist[u] + cost[u][w]<dist[w])
dist[w] = dist[u]+cost[u][w]

}
}
7.

dist array contains the shortest paths from V to all other destinations.

8.

Stop

Analysis

In this algorithm , the dist array initially contains distances from v to all the vertices
which are adjacent to it. The remaining are .
In the next steps, we select a vertex u, which is closest to v. Using u, find out the
distances from v to the vertices w, which are connected to u . Compare the distance vw
and distance (vu)+(uw). If this new distance happens to be less than the distance in the
distance array (vw), the new distance is put in the array. This means that there is a

10 - 29
Graphs

shorter path to a vertex w (which is adjacent to u) from vertex u as compared to the current
path from (vw)
The process continues till all vertices have been considered.
Note: This algorithm only gives the shortest distances from starting vertex v to all other
vertices. It does not store the paths to these vertices. For that, we will have to use some
additional logic.
Example: Consider the 8 vertex digraph (directed graph) with cost adjacency matrix as
shown

80

30

120
2

150

100

100
V

25
V

170

40

90
V

100

Weighted graph

0
0

30

100

80

170

120

150

25

100

90

140

100

Starting vertex = V4 . All paths are calculated with respect to V4

Step

Visited

Remarks

Dist Array
0

150

25

125

25

115

165

4,5

125

25

115

165

No change via 6

165

Shorter dist to 2 via 3

4,5,6

245

125

25

115

Shorter dist to 3, 6 , 7 via 5

10 - 30
Graphs
245 125 0

25

115

165

Shorter dist to 0 via 7

4,5,6,3

335

4,5,6,3,7

335

325

245

125

25

115

165

Shorter dist to 1 via 2

4,5,6,3,7,2

335

325

245

125

25

115

165

No change via 1

4,5,6,3,7,2,1

335

325

245

125

25

115

165

No change via 0

4,5,6,3,7,2,1,0

335

325

245

125

25

115

165

Topological Sort
Graphs are commonly used for project planning which consists of many interdependent
activities. These activities are represented as vertices and the directed edges represent the
order of the activities. Such a graph is called an Activity on Vertex (AOV) network.
AOV network: A directed graph in which the vertices represent activities or tasks and
the edges represent the precedence is called an AOV network.
Vertex i in an AOV network is a predecessor of vertex j if there is a directed path from i
to j. This means that unless activity i is completed, j cannot be performed. There should be
no cycles in an AOV network i.e there should be atleast one activity which does not have a
predecessor.
Example
V
V

n o t f e a s i b le

f e a s ib le
AOV networks

In the first AOV network, V1 does not have any predecessor and hence it is the starting
activity.
In the second network, there is a cycle i.e. each activity is dependent on some other
activity. Hence the project represented by this graph is not feasible.

10 - 31
Graphs

Topological Sort
If we have an AOV network, then we would like to find out whether the project is feasible
or not and if it is feasible, then in what order should the activities be performed so that the
project can be completed. This can be done using a method called the Topological Sort.
The process of converting a set of precedences represented by an AOV network into a
linear list in which no later activity precedes an earlier one is called Topological Sorting.
This method identifies the order of the activities.
The process is very simple. We start with the activity / activities having no predecessor
i.e. having indegree 0. These are then marked as visited and pushed into a stack. We then
pop an activity from the stack, find out the activities dependent on this activity and reduce
their indegrees by 1. The same process repeats again till all the activities have been visited
and the stack is empty.
Algorithm
1.

Accept AOV network in adjacency list form

2.

S is an empty stack

3.

Search for vertex v whose indegree is 0.

4.

if v is found
mark v as visited
make indegree of v = 1
push v into stack
5. If v is not found
If stack is empty
Go to 7
Else
pop v from the stack and display.
Reduce the indegree of all vertices adjacent to v by 1.

6.

Repeat from step 3 till all vertices have been visited.

7.

If all vertices are not visited

Display Project not feasible

8. Stop.

10 - 32
Graphs

Since we need the indegree of the vertices, the node structure has to be modified. Each
list will have a head node which also stores the indegree of the vertex. We can use the first
node of each list to store the indegrees.
Example

A d ja c e n c y lis t
In d e g re e p tr

A O V n e tw o rk
V
V

NU LL

N ULL

NU LL

N U LL

N U LL

AOV network

Vertex
considered

No.

Indegrees
Stack
V1

V2

V3

V4

V5

V1

-1

v1

2.

None

-1

Empty

-1

-1

-1

V2,V3

-1

-1

-1

V2

1, 3

-1

-1

-1

Empty

1,3, 2

3.

V2, v3

None
4.
5.

None

6.

V4

-1

-1

-1

-1

V4

5.

None

-1

-1

-1

-1

Empty

6.

V5

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

V5

7.

None

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

Empty

Thus , the topological order is

V1, V3, V2, V4, V5

Remarks

Display

1,3,2 ,4

Push v1, Make indegree -1

Pop 1, Display
Reduce indegrees of v2 and
v3
Push vertices with indegree =
0, Make indegree -1
Pop 3, Display
Reduce indegrees of v4 and
v5
Pop v2, Display
Reduce indegree of v4
Push v4, Make indegree -1
Pop v4 , reduce indegree of v5
Push V5

1,3,2,4,5

Pop V5, Display

10 - 33
Graphs

PROBLEMS
1. Find the indegree and outdegree of every vertex in the following graph.
2

4
6

1
3

Soln:
Vertex
1
2
3
4
5
6

Indegre
0
1
1
2
2
2

Outdegree
2
2
2
1
1
0

2. If the adjacency matrix of a directed graph G is as follows, draw the graph.

0
0
0
0

1
0
0
0

1
0
0
0

1
1
0
0

Soln: Since the matrix is of size 4 X 4, there are 4 vertices. Let us number them V 1 to V4.
There are 3 vertices connected to V1 and one vertex connected to V2 . Hence the graph will
look like :

V
V

10 - 34
Graphs

3. From the following adjacency list representation of a graph, draw the graph.

NULL

NULL

NULL

NU LL

NULL

5. Draw the minimum cost spanning tree obtained for the following graph using Prim s
algorithm.
16

v1

v3
8

10

12

v4
5
v2

20

4
14

v6
9

v5

Soln: The steps for the minimum cost spanning tree using Prims algorithm are as follows.
There are 6 vertices. Hence the spanning tree will contain 5 edges.
Step
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Consider
(V4, V5)
(V2, V4)
(V3, V5)
(V3, V4)
(V5, V6)
(V1, V2)

Action
Select
Select
Select
Reject
Select
Select

6. Find the shortest paths to all vertices in the following graph from vertex 1 as the source
vertex. Show all steps.

10 - 35
Graphs
1
10

40

30

10

50
3

60
4

20

Soln: The cost adjacency matrix for the above graph is to be used.
1

1
0

2
10

2
3

4
30

5
40

10

50

50

20

10

30

20

60

40

10

20

The distance array shows current distances from vertex 1 to all other vertices
Dist

1
0

2
10

4
30

5
40

Starting vertex = 1. Hence the visited array is :

1

Step 1: Select 2. Mark it visited.

Vertices connected to 2 and unvisited = 3.
Compare Dist[3] ( ) with Dist[2] + Cost[2][3]. > 10 + 50. Update dist[3].
Dist

1
0

2
10

3
60

4
30

5
40

Step 2: Select 4. Mark it visited.

Vertices connected to 4 and unvisited = 3, 5.
Compare Dist[3] (60 ) with Dist[4] + Cost[4][3]. 60 > 30 + 20. Update dist[3].
Compare Dist[5] (40 ) with Dist[4] + Cost[4][5]. 40 not > 30 + 60. No change
Dist

1
0

2
10

3
50

4
30

5
40

Step 3: Select 5. Mark it visited.

Vertices connected to 5 and unvisited = 3.
Compare Dist[3] (50 ) with Dist[5] + Cost[5][3]. 50 not > 40 + 10. No change

Dist

1
0

10 - 36
Graphs
2
3
10 50

4
30

5
40

4
30

5
40

Step 4: Select 3. Mark it visited.

There are no vertices connected to 3 and unvisited .
Shortest distances from vertex 1 are :
Dist

1
0

2
10

3
50

7. For the following graph, perform the following

i)

Draw adjacency matrix

ii)

Draw adjacency list

iii)

Indegree and Outdegree of vertices

iv)

DFS and BFS Spanning Tree ( starting vertex = 2)

v)

Strongly Connected components

1

Soln:
i)

Adjacency Matrix
1
2
3
4
5
6

1
0
1
0
0
1
1

2
0
0
1
0
0
1

3
0
0
0
1
0
0

4
0
1
0
0
0
0

5
0
0
0
1
0
1

6
0
0
1
1
0
0

ii)
Vertex
1
2

Indegre
3
2

Outdegree
0
2

10 - 37
Graphs

3
1
4
1
5
2
6
2
BFS = 2, 1, 4, 3, 5, 6.

2
3
1
3

iii)

DFS = 2, 1, 4, 3, 6,5

iv)

A Strongly Connected component is a subgraph that is strongly connected. The

above graph has two strongly connected components. i) 2,3,4 ii) 2,4,6