Graph Theory

Review

Lecture 2.3
 Lecture Outline

● This lecture reviews basics of Graph Theory. It

covers:
○ Graph formal definition
○ Types of graphs
○ Graph representation methods
○ Application of graphs to solve real world problems
 Introduction to Graphs

● A graph is a mathematical structure for representing

relationships consisting of a set of nodes (or
vertices) connected by edges (or arcs/lines)
● Graphs are ubiquitous in computer science because
they provide a handy way to represent a relationship
between pairs of objects
Introduction to Graphs (II)
● The objects represent items of interest such as
programs, people, cities, or web pages, and we place
an edge between a pair of nodes if they are related in a
certain way.
● For example, an edge between a pair of people might
indicate that they like (or, in alternate scenarios,
that they don’t like) each other
 Introduction to Graphs (III)
● An edge between a pair of courses might indicate
that one needs to be taken before the other
● Two nodes in a graph can be referred to as adjacent
if there's an edge between them
● Two nodes in a graph can be referred to as
connected if there's a path between them
● A path is a series of one or more nodes where
consecutive nodes are adjacent
 Introduction to Graphs (IV)
● A path is a cycle if it starts and ends in the same
node
● A simple cycle is one that contains at least three
nodes and repeats only the first and last nodes
 Introduction to Graphs (V)
Figure 1: A graph with 4 nodes and 6 edges
● Directed/digraphs ,
provides a way to
represent how things are
connected together and
how to get from one
thing to another by
following the path
● On the other hand, there
is no directions on the
path in undirected graph
 Introduction to Graphs (VI)

● Formally, a directed graph , G , consists of a

nonempty set, V(G) , called the vertices of G , and a
set, E(G) , called the edges of G
● An element of V(G) is called a vertex , and an
element of E(G) is called edge
 Introduction to Graphs (VII)
● Graph, G, is composed of
underlying set for the vertices, V,
and set of edges, E.
● Based on the graph shown;
○ V = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 }
○ E = { { 6, 4 } , { 4 ,5 },
{ 4, 3 } , { 3, 2 },
{ 5, 2 } , { 2, 1 }
{5,1}
}
 Common Types of Graphs
• Directed Graphs - paths/edges have directions.
Order of vertices and edges matter
• Undirected Graphs - paths/edges have no
directions. Order of vertices and edges doesn’t
matter.
• Cyclic Graphs - directed graph with at least one
cycle
• Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAG) - directed graph
without cycles
Common Types of Graphs (II)
• Disconnected Graphs - Vertices in a graph do not
need to be connected to other vertices
• Vertex Labelled Graph - each vertex is labeled with
some data in addition to the data that identifies the
vertex
• Edge Labelled Graph - Edge labeled graph is a
graph where the edges are associated with labels
Common Types of Graphs (III)
• Weighted Graphs - A weighted graph is an edge
labeled graph where the labels can be operated on
by the usual arithmetic and logical operators
 Graph Representation:
Adjacency Matrix Representation

● There are many ways to represent a graph

● We have already seen two ways: you
can draw it, or you can represent it with sets —as in
G = (V, E)
● Another common representation is with an
adjacency matrix
 Graph Representation:
Adjacency Matrix Representation

● For a graph with V, vertices, an adjacency matrix is

a ∣V∣ × ∣V∣ matrix of 0’s and 1’s, where the entry in
row i and column j is 1 if and only if the edge ( i, j )
exist in the graph
 Graph Representation:
Adjacency Matrix Representation

Adjacency Matrix of the graph

 Graph Applications

1. The Web - Search engines

2. Social Networks - Facebook, Google, Twitter,
Instagram
3. Application Modelling - Google, Facebook, Twitter
4. Transport Problems - Traffic??
5. Scheduling i.e - Job scheduling, aircraft scheduling
Questions