What will happen if Dijkstra's algorithm is run on a graph with negative weight

Practice Questions

Q1
What will happen if Dijkstra's algorithm is run on a graph with negative weight edges?
  1. It will still find the shortest path.
  2. It may produce incorrect results.
  3. It will terminate with an error.
  4. It will only work for the first negative edge.

Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions

What will happen if Dijkstra's algorithm is run on a graph with negative weight edges?
  • Step 1: Understand what Dijkstra's algorithm does. It finds the shortest path from a starting node to all other nodes in a graph.
  • Step 2: Recognize that Dijkstra's algorithm assumes that once a node's shortest path is found, it will not change.
  • Step 3: Identify what negative weight edges are. These are edges that decrease the total path cost when traversed.
  • Step 4: Realize that if a graph has negative weight edges, the shortest path to a node can change after it has been processed by Dijkstra's algorithm.
  • Step 5: Conclude that because of this, Dijkstra's algorithm may give incorrect shortest path results when negative weight edges are present.
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