In the context of Dijkstra's algorithm, what does the term 'relaxation' refer to
Practice Questions
Q1
In the context of Dijkstra's algorithm, what does the term 'relaxation' refer to?
Updating the priority queue
Calculating the shortest path
Updating the distance estimate of a vertex
Removing a vertex from the graph
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
In the context of Dijkstra's algorithm, what does the term 'relaxation' refer to?
Step 1: Understand that Dijkstra's algorithm is used to find the shortest path in a graph.
Step 2: Know that each vertex (or point) in the graph has a distance estimate, which starts as infinity (or a very large number) except for the starting point, which is zero.
Step 3: As the algorithm explores the graph, it looks at the edges (or connections) between vertices.
Step 4: When the algorithm finds a new path to a vertex that is shorter than the current distance estimate, it updates that estimate.
Step 5: This updating process is called 'relaxation' because it 'relaxes' the previous distance estimate to a new, shorter one.
