In which scenario would Depth-First Search (DFS) be preferred over Breadth-First
Practice Questions
Q1
In which scenario would Depth-First Search (DFS) be preferred over Breadth-First Search (BFS)?
Finding the shortest path
Exploring all nodes in a level
When memory is limited
Finding connected components
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
In which scenario would Depth-First Search (DFS) be preferred over Breadth-First Search (BFS)?
Step 1: Understand what DFS (Depth-First Search) and BFS (Breadth-First Search) are. They are both methods to explore or search through graphs or trees.
Step 2: Know that DFS explores as far down a branch as possible before backtracking, while BFS explores all neighbors at the present depth before moving on to nodes at the next depth level.
Step 3: Recognize that DFS uses a stack (which can be implemented using recursion) to keep track of nodes, while BFS uses a queue.
Step 4: Identify scenarios where the graph is deep and narrow, meaning it has many levels but few branches at each level.
Step 5: Understand that in deep and narrow graphs, DFS will use less memory because it only needs to store the current path down the depth, while BFS would need to store all nodes at the current level, which can be many.
Step 6: Conclude that in these deep and narrow scenarios, DFS is preferred over BFS due to its lower memory usage.
