Spanning Tree
R K Mohapatra
What is A Spanning Tree?
• A spanning tree for an
undirected graph G=(V,E) is a
subgraph of G that is a tree
a
and contains all the vertices
of G
b u e
• Can a graph have more than
one spanning tree? c v f
• Can an unconnected graph d
have a spanning tree?
Minimal Spanning Tree.
• The weight of a subgraph is
the sum of the weights of it 4
a 4
edges. 9
3
b u e
• A minimum spanning tree for 14 2
a weighted graph is a 10
c v 15 f
spanning tree with minimum
weight. 3
8
d
• Can a graph have more then
one minimum spanning tree? Mst T: w( T )= (u,v) T w(u,v ) is minimized
Example of a Problem that
Translates into a MST
The Problem
• Several pins of an electronic circuit must be
connected using the least amount of wire.
Modeling the Problem
• The graph is a complete, undirected graph
G = ( V, E ,W ), where V is the set of pins, E is the
set of all possible interconnections between the
pairs of pins and w(e) is the length of the wire
needed to connect the pair of vertices.
• Find a minimum spanning tree.
MST Algorithms
We will show two ways to build a minimum
spanning tree.
• A MST can be grown from the current spanning
tree by adding the nearest vertex and the edge
connecting the nearest vertex to the MST. (Prim‘s
algorithm)
• A MST can be grown from a forest of spanning
trees by adding the smallest edge connecting two
spanning trees. (Kruskal's algorithm)
Notation
• Tree-vertices: in the tree constructed so far
• Non-tree vertices: rest of vertices
Prim’s Selection rule
• Select the minimum weight edge between a tree-
node and a non-tree node and add to the tree
The Prim algorithm Main Idea
Select a vertex to be a tree-node
while (there are non-tree vertices) {
if there is no edge connecting a tree node
with a non-tree node then
return “no spanning tree”
select an edge of minimum weight between a tree
node and a non-tree node
add the selected edge and its new vertex to the tree
}
return tree
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Prim's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
A B
C D
E F
Prim's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
A B
2 D
C
E F
Prim's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
A B
2 D
C
1
E F
Prim's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
A B
2
2 D
C
3 1 2
E F
Prim's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
A B
2
2 D
C
3 1 2
E F
Prim's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
A B
2
2 D
C
3 1 2
E F
Prim's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
A B
2
2 D
C
3 1 2
E F
Prim's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
A B
2
2 D
C
3 1 2
E F
Prim's Algorithm
minimum- spanning tree
A B
2
2 D
C
3 1 2
E F
Prim's Algorithm
Kruskal‘s Algorithm
1. Each vertex is in its own cluster
2. Take the edge e with the smallest weight
- if e connects two vertices in different clusters,
then e is added to the MST and the two clusters,
which are connected by e, are merged into a
single cluster
- if e connects two vertices, which are already
in the same cluster, ignore it
3. Continue until n-1 edges were selected
Kruskal's Algorithm
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3 Can’t be chosen next
(B & F are in same cluster)
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
A 5 B
4 6 2
C 2 D 3
3 1 2
E F
4
5
A B
4 6 2
2 D 3
C
3 1 2
E F
4
Kruskal's Algorithm
minimum- spanning tree
A B
2
2 D
C
3 1 2
E F
Kruskal's Algorithm
