24 ShortestPathAlgorithm-091

Shortest Path Algorithm
• What is the Shortest Path Problem?
• Is the shortest path problem well defined?
• The Dijkstra's Algorithm for Shortest Path Problem.
• Implementation Dijkstra's Algorithm

What is the shortest path problem?
• In an edge-weighted graph, the weight of an edge measures the
cost of traveling that edge.
• For example, in a graph representing a network of airports, the

weights could represent: distance, cost or time.
• Such a graph could be used to answer any of the following:

– What is the fastest way to get from A to B?
– Which route from A to B is the least expensive?
– What is the shortest possible distance from A to B?
• Each of these questions is an instance of the same problem:

The shortest path problem!
Is the shortest path problem well defined?
• If all the edges in a graph have non-negative weights, then it is

possible to find the shortest path from any two vertices.
• For example, in the figure below, the shortest path from B to F is

{ B, A, C, E, F } with a total cost of nine.
• Thus, the problem is well defined for a graph that contains non-
negative weights.
Is the shortest path problem well defined? - Cont'd
• Things get difficult for a graph with negative weights.
• For example, the path D, A, C, E, F costs 4 even though the edge

(D, A) costs 5 -- the longer the less costly.
• The problem gets even worse if the graph has a negative cost cycle.
e.g. {D, A, C, D}
• A solution can be found even for negative-weight graphs but not for
graphs involving negative cost cycles.
{D, A, C, D, A, C, E, F} = 2
{D, A, C, D, A, C, D, A, C, E, F} = 0
The Dijkstra's Algorithm
• Dijkstra's algorithm solves the single-source shortest
path problem for a non-negative weights graph.
• It finds the shortest path from an initial vertex, say s, to

all the other vertices.
The Dijkstra's Algorithm Cont'd
// Let V be the set of all vertices in G, and s the start vertex.
for(each vertex v){
currentDistance(s-v) = ∞;
predecessor(v) = undefined;
} For each vertex, the algorithm keeps track of its
currentDistance(s-s) = 0; current estimated shortest distance from the
T = V; starting vertex and its predecessor on the current
path
while(T  ){
v = a vertex in T with minimal currentDistance from s;
T= T – {v};
for(each vertex u adjacent to v and in T){
if(currentDistance(s-u) > currentDistance(s-v) + weight(edge(vu)){
currentDistance(s-u) = currentDistance(s-v) + weight(edge(vu));
predecessor(u) = v;
}
}
}
Example
:Tracing Dijkstra’s algorithm starting at vertex B
:The resulting vertex-weighted graph is

Data structures required
• The implementation of Dijkstra's algorithm uses the Entry structure,
which contains the following three fields:
– know: a boolean variable indicating whether the shortest path to v is known,
initially false for all vertices.
– distance : the shortest known distance from s to v, initially infinity for all
vertices except that of s which is 0.
– predecessor : the predecessor of v on the path from s to v, initially unknown
for all vertices.
public class Algorithms{
static final class Entry{
boolean known;
int distance;
Vertex predecessor;
Entry(){
known = false;
distance = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
predecessor = null;
}
}
Implementation of Dijkstra's Algorithm
• The dijkstrasAlgorithm method shown below takes two arguments, a
directed graph and the starting vertex.
• The method returns a vertex-weighted Digraph from which the
shortest path from s to any vertex can be found.
• Since in each pass, the vertex with the smallest known distance is
chosen, a minimum priority queue is used to store the vertices.
public static Graph dijkstrasAlgorithm(Graph g, Vertex start){

int n = g.getNumberOfVertices();
Entry table[] = new Entry[n];
for(int v = 0; v < n; v++)
table[v] = new Entry();
table[g.getIndex(start)].distance = 0;
PriorityQueue queue = new BinaryHeap(
g.getNumberOfEdges());
queue.enqueue(new Association(new Integer(0), start));
Implementation of Dijkstra's Algorithm - Cont'd
while(!queue.isEmpty()) {
Association association = (Association)queue.dequeueMin();
Vertex v1 = (Vertex) association.getValue();
int n1 = g.getIndex(v1);
if(!table[n1].known){
table[n1].known = true;
Iterator p = v1.getEmanatingEdges();
while (p.hasNext()){
Edge edge = (Edge) p.next();
Vertex v2 = edge.getMate(v1);
int n2 = g.getIndex(v2);
Integer weight = (Integer) edge.getWeight();
int d = table[n1].distance + weight.intValue();
if(table[n2].distance > d){
table[n2].distance = d;
table[n2].predecessor = v1;
queue.enqueue(new Association(d, v2));
}
}
}
}
Implementation of Dijkstra's Algorithm Cont'd
Graph result = new GraphAsLists(true);//Result is Digraph
Iterator it = g.getVertices();
while (it.hasNext()){
Vertex v = (Vertex) it.next();
result.addVertex(v.getLabel(),
new Integer(table[g.getIndex(v)].distance));
}
it = g.getVertices();
while (it.hasNext()){
Vertex v = (Vertex) it.next();
if (v != start){
String from = v.getLabel();
String to = table[g.getIndex(v)].predecessor.getLabel();
result.addEdge(from, to);
}
}
return result;
}
Review Questions
• Use the graph Gc shown above to trace the execution of Dijkstra's algorithm as
it solves the shortest path problem starting from vertex a.
• Dijkstra's algorithm works as long as there are no negative edge weights. Given
a graph that contains negative edge weights, we might be tempted to eliminate
the negative weights by adding a constant weight to all of the edges. Explain
why this does not work.
• Dijkstra's algorithm can be modified to deal with negative edge weights (but not
negative cost cycles) by eliminating the known flag and by inserting a vertex
back into the queue every time its tentative distance decreases. Implement
this modified algorithm.

24 ShortestPathAlgorithm-091

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24 ShortestPathAlgorithm-091

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Shortest Path Algorithm

• What is the Shortest Path Problem?

• Is the shortest path problem well defined?

• The Dijkstra's Algorithm for Shortest Path Problem.

• Implementation Dijkstra's Algorithm

• For example, in a graph representing a network of airports, the

• Such a graph could be used to answer any of the following:

• Each of these questions is an instance of the same problem:

• If all the edges in a graph have non-negative weights, then it is

• For example, in the figure below, the shortest path from B to F is

• For example, the path D, A, C, E, F costs 4 even though the edge

• It finds the shortest path from an initial vertex, say s, to

:The resulting vertex-weighted graph is

public static Graph dijkstrasAlgorithm(Graph g, Vertex start){

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