Edge Rejection Greedy StrategiesStart with the connected graph. Repeatedly find a cycle and eliminate the highest cost edge on this cycle. Stop when no cycles remain.
Consider edges in descending order of cost. Eliminate an edge provided this leaves behind a connected graph.
Minimum-Cost Spanning Tree weighted connected undirected graph
spanning tree
cost of spanning tree is sum of edge costs
find spanning tree that has minimum cost
Example
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 3 8 10 14 12 7 9 Network has 10 edges.
Spanning tree has only n - 1 = 7 edges.
Need to either select 7 edges or discard 3.
Edge Selection Greedy Strategies
Start with an n vertex forest. Consider edges in ascending order of cost. Select edge if it does not form a cycle together with already selected edges.
Kruskal’s method.
Start with a 1 vertex tree and grow it into an n vertex tree by repeatedly adding a vertex and an edge. When there is a choice, add a least cost edge.
Prim’s method.
Edge Selection Greedy Strategies
Start with an n vertex forest. Each component selects a least cost edge to connect to another component. Eliminate duplicate selections and possible cycles. Repeat until only 1 component is left.
Sollin’s method.
Edge Rejection Greedy Strategies
Start with the connected graph. Repeatedly find a cycle and eliminate the highest cost edge on this cycle. Stop when no cycles remain.
Consider edges in descending order of cost. Eliminate an edge provided this leaves behind a connected graph.
Kruskal’s Method
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 3 8 10 14 12 7 9 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 Consider edges in ascending order of cost.
Edge (1,2) is considered first and added to the forest. Start with a forest that has no edges.
Kruskal’s Method
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 3 8 10 14 12 7 9 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 3 Edge (3,4) is considered next and added. 4 Edge (5,6) is considered next and added. 6 Edge (2,3) is considered next and added. 7 Edge (1,3) is considered next and rejected because it creates a cycle. Edge (7,8) is considered next and added.
Kruskal’s Method
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 3 8 10 14 12 7 9 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 3 4 Edge (3,5) is considered next and added. 6 10 Edge (3,6) is considered next and rejected. 7 Edge (5,7) is considered next and added. 14 Edge (2,4) is considered next and rejected because it creates a cycle.
Kruskal’s Method
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 3 8 10 14 12 7 9 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 3 4 6 10 7 14 n - 1 edges have been selected and no cycle formed.
So we must have a spanning tree.
Cost is 46.
Min-cost spanning tree is unique when all edge costs are different.
Prim’s Method
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 3 8 10 14 12 7 9 5 Get a 2 vertex tree by adding a cheapest edge. 6 6 Get a 3 vertex tree by adding a cheapest edge. 3 10 Grow the tree one edge at a time until the tree has n - 1 edges (and hence has all n vertices). 4 4 2 7 1 2 7 14 8 3 Start with any single vertex tree.
Sollin’s Method
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 3 10 14 12 7 9 Start with a forest that has no edges. 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 Each component selects a least cost edge with which to connect to another component.
Duplicate selections are eliminated.
Cycles are possible when the graph has some edges that have the same cost. 2 4 6 3 8
Sollin’s Method
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 3 8 10 14 12 7 9 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 Each component that remains selects a least cost edge with which to connect to another component.
Beware of duplicate selections and cycles. 7 2 4 6 3 10 14
Greedy Minimum-Cost Spanning Tree Methods
Can prove that all result in a minimum-cost spanning tree.
Prim’s method is fastest.
O(n2) using an implementation similar to that of Dijkstra’s shortest-path algorithm.
O(e + n log n) using a Fibonacci heap.
Kruskal’s uses union-find trees to run in O(n + e log e) time.
Pseudocode For Kruskal’s Method Start with an empty set T of edges.
while (E is not empty && |T| != n-1)
{
Let (u,v) be a least-cost edge in E.
E = E - {(u,v)}. // delete edge from E
if ((u,v) does not create a cycle in T)
Add edge (u,v) to T.
}
if (| T | == n-1) T is a min-cost spanning tree.
else Network has no spanning tree.
Data Structures For Kruskal’s Method
Edge set E.
Operations are:
Is E empty?
Select and remove a least-cost edge.
Use a min heap of edges.
Initialize. O(e) time.
Remove and return least-cost edge. O(log e) time.
Data Structures For Kruskal’s Method
Set of selected edges T.
Operations are:
Does T have n - 1 edges?
Does the addition of an edge (u, v) to T result in a cycle?
Add an edge to T.
Data Structures For Kruskal’s Method Use an array linear list for the edges of T.
Does T have n - 1 edges?
Check size of linear list. O(1) time.
Does the addition of an edge (u, v) to T result in a cycle?
Not easy.
Add an edge to T.
Add at right end of linear list. O(1) time.
Just use an array rather than ArrayLinearList.
Data Structures For Kruskal’s Method Does the addition of an edge (u, v) to T result in a cycle?
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 3 4 6 7 Each component of T is a tree.
When u and v are in the same component, the addition of the edge (u,v) creates a cycle. When u and v are in the different components, the addition of the edge (u,v) does not create a cycle.
Data Structures For Kruskal’s Method
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 3 4 6 7 Each component of T is defined by the vertices in the component. Represent each component as a set of vertices.
{1, 2, 3, 4}, {5, 6}, {7, 8} Two vertices are in the same component iff they are in the same set of vertices.
Data Structures For Kruskal’s Method
When an edge (u, v) is added to T, the two components that have vertices u and v combine to become a single component. 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 2 3 4 6 7 In our set representation of components, the set that has vertex u and the set that has vertex v are united.
{1, 2, 3, 4} + {5, 6} => {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
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