Dijkstra’s Algorithm

Slide Courtesy: Uwash, UT

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 Single-Source Shortest Path Problem

Single-Source Shortest Path Problem - The

problem of finding shortest paths from a source
vertex v to all other vertices in the graph.
 Applications
- Maps (Map Quest, Google Maps)
- Routing Systems
 Dijkstra's algorithm
Dijkstra's algorithm - is a solution to the single-source
shortest path problem in graph theory.

Works on both directed and undirected graphs. However,

all edges must have nonnegative weights.

Input: Weighted graph G={E,V} and source vertex v∈V,

such that all edge weights are nonnegative

Output: Lengths of shortest paths (or the shortest paths

themselves) from a given source vertex v∈V to all other
vertices
 Approach
• The algorithm computes for each vertex u the distance to u
from the start vertex v, that is, the weight of a shortest path
between v and u.
• the algorithm keeps track of the set of vertices for which the
distance has been computed, called the cloud C
• Every vertex has a label D associated with it. For any vertex u,
D[u] stores an approximation of the distance between v and
u. The algorithm will update a D[u] value when it finds a
shorter path from v to u.
• When a vertex u is added to the cloud, its label D[u] is equal
to the actual (final) distance between the starting vertex v and
vertex u.
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 Dijkstra pseudocode
Dijkstra(v1, v2):
for each vertex v: // Initialization
v's distance := infinity.
v's previous := none.
v1's distance := 0.
List := {all vertices}.

while List is not empty:

v := remove List vertex with minimum distance.
mark v as known.
for each unknown neighbor n of v:
dist := v's distance + edge (v, n)'s weight.

if dist is smaller than n's distance:

n's distance := dist.
n's previous := v.

reconstruct path from v2 back to v1,

following previous pointers.
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 Example: Initialization

Distance(source) = 0 ∞ Distance (all vertices

0 A
2
B but source) = ∞

4 1 3 10

2 2 ∞
∞ C D E

5 8 ∞ 4 6

1
F G

∞ ∞

Pick vertex in List with minimum distance.

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 Example: Update neighbors'
distance
0 2
2
A B

4 1 3 10

2 2 ∞
∞ C D E

5 8 1 4 6

Distance(B) = 2 1
F G
Distance(D) = 1
∞ ∞

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Example: Remove vertex with
minimum distance
0 2
2
A B

4 1 3 10

2 2 ∞
∞ C D E

5 8 1 4 6

1
F G

∞ ∞

Pick vertex in List with minimum distance, i.e., D

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 Example: Update neighbors

0 2
2
A B

4 1 3 10

2 2
3 C D E 3

5 8 1 4 6

Distance(C) = 1 + 2 = 3 1
F G
Distance(E) = 1 + 2 = 3
Distance(F) = 1 + 8 = 9 9 5
Distance(G) = 1 + 4 = 5

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 Example: Continued...
Pick vertex List with minimum distance (E) and update neighbors

0 2
2
A B

4 1 3 10

2 2
3 C D E 3

5 8 1 4 6

1
F G
No updating
9 5

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 Example: Continued...
Pick vertex List with minimum distance (C) and update neighbors

0 2
2
A B

4 1 3 10

2 2
3 C D E 3

5 8 1 4 6

Distance(F) = 3 + 5 = 8 1
F G

8 5

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 Example (end)

0 2
2
A B

4 1 3 10

2 2
3 C D E 3

5 8 1 4 6

1
F G

Pick vertex not in S with lowest cost (F) and update neighbors

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Another Example
Another Example
Another Example
Another Example
Another Example
Another Example
Another Example
Another Example
Another Example
 Correctness :“Cloudy” Proof
When a vertex is added to the cloud, it has shortest
distance to source.

Least cost node v P: Next shortest path from

inside the known cloud

competitor v'

Source

• If the path to v is the next shortest path, the path to v' must be at
least as long. Therefore, any path through v' to v cannot be shorter!
Dijkstra Correctness (2)

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 Dijkstra Correctness (3)

d
[] d
u (s
,)
u (
in
it
ialas
sump
tio
n)
d
(s
,)
yd
(y
,)
u(opt
im a
lsub
st
ruc
tu
re)
d
[y
]d
(y
,)
u (cor
rect
nes
sofd[
y])
d
[y
] (
nonegat
ive
w e
ig
hts
)

• But if d[u] > d[y], the algorithm would have chosen y

(from the Q) to process next, not u -- Contradiction
• Thus d[u] = d(s,u) at time of insertion of u into S, and
Dijkstra's algorithm is correct

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 Dijkstra’s Pseudo Code
• Graph G, weight function w, root s

relaxing
edges

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Time Complexity: Using List
Time Complexity: Priority Queue

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