Graphs - Terminology and Representation
Overview
- Definitions: Vertices, edges, paths, etc
- Representations: Adjacency list and adjacency matrix
Definitions: Graph, Vertices, Edges
- Define a graph G = (V, E) by defining a pair of sets:
- V = a set of vertices
- E = a set of edges
- Edges:
- Each edge is defined by a pair of vertices
- An edge connects the vertices that define it
- In some cases, the vertices can be the same
- Vertices:
- Vertices also called nodes
- Denote vertices with labels
- Representation:
- Represent vertices with circles, perhaps containing a label
- Represent edges with lines between circles
- Example:
- V = {A,B,C,D}
- E = {(A,B),(A,C),(A,D),(B,D),(C,D)}
Motivation
- Many algorithms use a graph representation to represent data or
the problem to be solved
- Examples:
- Cities with distances between
- Roads with distances between intersection points
- Course prerequisites
- Network
- Social networks
- Program call graph and variable dependency graph
Graph Classifications
- There are seveal common kinds of graphs
- Weighted or unweighted
- Directed or undirected
- Cyclic or acyclic
- Choose the kind required for problem and determined by data
- We examine each below
Kinds of Graphs: Weighted and Unweighted
- Graphs can be classified by whether or not their edges have
weights
- Weighted graph: edges have a weight
- Weight typically shows cost of traversing
- Example: weights are distances between cities
- Unweighted graph: edges have no weight
- Edges simply show connections
- Example: course prereqs
Kinds of Graphs: Directed and Undirected
- Graphs can be classified by whether or their edges
are have direction
- Undirected Graphs: each edge can be traversed in
either direction
- Directed Graphs: each edge can be traversed
only in a specified direction
Undirected Graphs
- Undirected Graph: no implied direction on edge between nodes
- The example from above is an undirected graph
- In diagrams, edges have no direction (ie they are not arrows)
- Can traverse edges in either directions
- In an undirected graph, an edge is an unordered pair
- Actually, an edge is a set of 2 nodes,
but for simplicity we write it with parens
- For example, we write (A, B) instead of {A, B}
- Thus, (A,B) = (B,A), etc
- If (A,B) ∈ E then (B,A) ∈ E
- Formally: ∀ u,v ∈ E, (u,v)=(v,u) and u ≠ v
- A node normally does not have an edge to itself
Directed Graphs
- Digraph: A graph whose edges are directed (ie have a direction)
- Edge drawn as arrow
- Edge can only be traversed in direction of arrow
- Example: E = {(A,B), (A,C), (A,D), (B,C), (D,C)}
- Examples: courses and prerequisites, program call graph
- In a digraph, an edge is an ordered pair
- Thus: (u,v) and (v,u) are not the same edge
- In the example,
(D,C)
∈ E,
(C,D)
∉ E
- What would edge (B,A) look like? Remember (A,B) ≠ (B,A)
- A node can have an edge to itself (eg (A,A) is valid)
Subgraph
- If graph G=(V, E)
- Then Graph G'=(V',E') is a subgraph of G if
V' ⊆ V and
E' ⊆ E and
- Example ...
Degree of a Node
- The degree of a node is the number of edges the node is
used to define
- In the example above:
- Degree 2: B and C
- Degree 3: A and D
- A and D have odd degree,
and B and C have even degree
- Can also define in-degree and out-degree
- In-degree: Number of edges pointing to a node
- Out-degree: Number of edges pointing from a node
- Whare are the in- and out-degree of the example?
Graphs: Terminology Involving Paths
- Path: sequence of vertices in which
each pair of successive vertices is connected by an edge
- Cycle: a path that starts and ends on the same vertex
- Simple path: a path that does not cross itself
- That is, no vertex is repeated (except first and last)
- Simple paths cannot contain cycles
- Length of a path: Number of edges in the path
- Sometimes the sum of the weights of the edges
- Examples
- A sequence of vertices: (A, B, C, D) [Is this path,
simple path, cycle?]
- (A, B, D, A, C) [path, simple path, cycle?]
- (A, B, D, A, C) [path, simple path, cycle?]
- Cycle: ?
- Simple Cycle: ?
- Lengths?
Cyclic and Acyclic Graphs
- A Cyclic graph contains cycles
- Example: roads (normally)
- An acyclic graph contains no cycles
- Examples - Are these cyclic or acyclic?
Connected and Unconnected Graphs and Connected Components
- An undirected graph is connected if every pair of vertices
has a path between it
- Otherwise it is unconnected
- Give an example of a connected graph
- An unconnected graph can be broken in to connected components
- A directed graph is strongly connected if every pair
of vertices has a path between them, in both directions
Trees and Minimum Spanning Trees
- Tree: undirected, connected graph with no cycles
- Example ...
- If G=(V, E) is a tree, how many edges in G?
- Spanning tree: a spanning tree of G is a connected subgraph of G
that is a tree
- Minimum spanning tree (MST): a spanning tree with minimum weight
- Spanning trees and minimum spanning tree are not necessarily
unique
- We will look at two famous MST algorithms: Prim's and Kruskal's
Data Structures for Representing Graphs
- Two common data structures for representing graphs:
- Adjacency lists
- Adjacency matrix
Adjacency List Representation
- Each node has a list of adjacent nodes
- Example (undirected graph):
- A: B, C, D
- B: A, D
- C: A, D
- D: A, B, C
- Example (directed graph):
- A: B, C, D
- B: D
- C: Nil
- D: C
- Weighted graph can store weights in list
- Space: Θ(V + E) (ie |V| + |E|)
- Time:
- To visit each node that is adjacent to node u:
Θ(degree(u))
- To determine if node u is adjacent to node v:
Θ(degree(u))
Adjacency Matrix Representation
- Adjacency Matrix: 2D array containing weights on edges
- Row for each vertex
- Column for each vertex
- Entries contain weight of edge from row vertex to column vertex
- Entries contain ∞ (ie Integer'last)
if no edge from row vertex to column vertex
- Entries contain 0 on diagonal (if self edges not allowed)
- Example undirected graph (assume self-edges not allowed):
| A | B | C | D |
A | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
B | 1 | 0 | ∞ | 1 |
C | 1 | ∞ | 0 | 1 |
D | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
- Example directed graph (assume self-edges allowed):
| A | B | C | D |
A | ∞ | 1 | 1 | 1 |
B | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | 1 |
C | ∞ | ∞ |
∞ | ∞ |
D | ∞ | ∞ |
1 | ∞ |
- Can store weights in cells
- Space: Θ(V2)
- Time:
- To visit each node that is adjacent to node u: Θ(V)
- To determine if node u is adjacent to node v: Θ(1)