Algorithms For Dummies

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  PART 3 

 Exploring the World of Graphs

A computer doesn’t know that it needs to look in a specific place until you tell it to 

do so. To focus attention in a specific location, you need to reduce the graph size, 

as described in the third section of the chapter.

Now  that  the  problem  is  simplified,  an  algorithm  can  find  the  shortest  route 

between two points, as described in the fourth section of the chapter. After all, you 

don’t want to spend any more time than is necessary in traffic fighting your way 

from  home  to  the  office  (and  back  again).  The  concept  of  finding  the  shortest 

route is a bit more convoluted than you might think, so the fourth section looks at 

some of the specific requirements for performing routing tasks in detail.