What is the primary disadvantage of using DFS compared to BFS?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the primary disadvantage of using DFS compared to BFS?
Higher time complexity
Can get stuck in deep paths
Requires more memory
None of the above
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the primary disadvantage of using DFS compared to BFS?
Step 1: Understand what DFS (Depth-First Search) and BFS (Breadth-First Search) are. DFS explores as far down a path as possible before backtracking, while BFS explores all neighbors at the present depth before moving on to nodes at the next depth level.
Step 2: Recognize that DFS can follow a long path deeply into a tree or graph. This means it might explore many nodes without finding a solution.
Step 3: Realize that while DFS is exploring deep paths, it might miss shorter paths that are available at shallower levels.
Step 4: Compare this to BFS, which checks all possible paths at the current level before going deeper, ensuring it finds the shortest path first if one exists.
Step 5: Conclude that the primary disadvantage of DFS is that it can get stuck in deep paths and may not find the shortest path as efficiently as BFS.
