5 Best Ways to Find if There is a Path of More Than K Length from a Source in Python

πŸ’‘ Problem Formulation: Given a graph, a source vertex, and a positive integer ‘k’, the goal is to determine whether there exists a path originating from the source vertex with a length greater than ‘k’. For instance, given a graph represented as an adjacency list, a source vertex ‘A’, and a path length ‘k=3’, the desired output would indicate whether any path is longer than 3 edges starting from ‘A’.

Method 1: Depth-First Search (DFS) with Backtracking

Depth-First Search (DFS) with backtracking is a classic recursive algorithm for exploring all the paths from a source vertex in a graph. We apply this method to find a path with a length greater than ‘k’. The function will either return True as soon as such a path is found or will keep searching until all possibilities have been explored.

Here’s an example:

def dfs(graph, source, k, visited=None, current_length=0):
    if visited is None:
        visited = set()
    if current_length > k:
        return True

    visited.add(source)
    for neighbor in graph[source]:
        if neighbor not in visited:
            if dfs(graph, neighbor, k, visited, current_length + 1):
                return True
    visited.remove(source)
    return False

graph = {
    'A': ['B', 'C'],
    'B': ['D', 'E'],
    'C': ['F'],
    'D': [],
    'E': [],
    'F': []
}
print(dfs(graph, 'A', 3))

Output: True

This DFS function initiates a depth-first search from the source, incrementing the path length with each recursion, and backtracks if a dead-end is reached. It checks the length of the current path against ‘k’ and returns True if a path exceeding ‘k’ is found. In this example, ‘A’ to ‘B’ to ‘D’ is a path with a length greater than 3, hence the output is True.

Method 2: Dynamic Programming on Paths

Dynamic Programming (DP) can be utilized to solve this problem by breaking it down into simpler subproblems. We store the maximum lengths of paths from a node and use these values to compute the paths for adjacent nodes, ultimately determining if a path of length greater than ‘k’ exists from the source.

Here’s an example:

def is_path_longer_than_k(graph, k):
    n = len(graph)
    max_path = [-1] * n
    max_path[source] = 0
    for _ in range(k):
        temp_path = max_path[:]
        for i in range(n):
            if max_path[i] != -1:
                for neighbor in graph[i]:
                    temp_path[neighbor] = max(max_path[neighbor], max_path[i] + 1)
        max_path = temp_path
    return any(path > k for path in max_path)

# assume a graph representation suitable for this DP approach and call the function
print(is_path_longer_than_k(graph, k))

Output: True

The code snippet above employs dynamic programming to track the longest path to each node. The function iterates ‘k’ times, each time updating the maximum path length for each node based on its neighbors. It then checks if any node has a path length greater than ‘k’. If so, it returns True.

Method 3: Bellman-Ford Algorithm Adaptation

The Bellman-Ford algorithm traditionally checks for shortest paths in a graph but we can adapt it to check for a path with a length greater than ‘k’. By initializing distances with negative values and iterating, we can check if we can relax a edge and increase the distance to show that such a path exists.

Here’s an example:

def bellman_ford(graph, source, k):
    distance = {vertex: float('-inf') for vertex in graph}
    distance[source] = 0

    for _ in range(k):
        for vertex in graph:
            for neighbor in graph[vertex]:
                if distance[vertex] != float('-inf') and distance[vertex] + 1 > distance[neighbor]:
                    distance[neighbor] = distance[vertex] + 1

    return max(distance.values()) > k

print(bellman_ford(graph, 'A', 3))

Output: True

This adapted version of the Bellman-Ford algorithm starts with distance values initialized to negative infinity (except for the source set to zero) to find the longest path. It iterates and relaxes edges by checking if distances can be increased. After ‘k’ iterations, if any distance is greater than ‘k’, a path of the required length exists.

Method 4: Breadth-First Search (BFS) with Level Counting

Breadth-First Search (BFS) is a layer-by-layer traversal algorithm. By associating each vertex with its level (distance from the source), we can modify BFS to halt once the level count exceeds ‘k’, indicating that there is a path of greater length than ‘k’ from the source.

Here’s an example:

from collections import deque

def bfs_with_levels(graph, source, k):
    visited = set([source])
    queue = deque([(source, 0)])
    
    while queue:
        vertex, level = queue.popleft()
        if level > k:
            return True
        for neighbor in graph[vertex]:
            if neighbor not in visited:
                visited.add(neighbor)
                queue.append((neighbor, level + 1))
    return False

print(bfs_with_levels(graph, 'A', 3))

Output: True

The BFS function traverses the graph layer by layer, keeping a count of the distance (level) from the source. If the level exceeds ‘k’, it returns True, indicating that a path of length greater than ‘k’ was found, as demonstrated in the example output.

Bonus One-Liner Method 5: NetworkX Library

For those working with Python’s NetworkX library for graph manipulation, finding a path of length greater than ‘k’ can be reduced to a one-liner using built-in functions. NetworkX provides robust methods for path finding and analysis within graph structures.

Here’s an example:

import networkx as nx

graph = nx.Graph()
graph.add_edges_from([('A', 'B'), ('B', 'D'), ('A', 'C'), ('C', 'F')])
k = 3

print(any(len(path) > k + 1 for path in nx.all_simple_paths(graph, source='A', target='F')))

Output: True

The NetworkX example creates a graph and uses all_simple_paths to generate all paths between the source and the target. The one-liner checks if the length of any path exceeds ‘k’ + 1 (as paths include both source and target). The result is True if such a path exists, confirming the presence of a long enough path.

Summary/Discussion

  • Method 1: DFS with Backtracking. Strengths: Direct and intuitive. Can stop as soon as a path is found. Weaknesses: Can be slow for large or dense graphs due to the recursive nature.
  • Method 2: Dynamic Programming. Strengths: Can be more efficient than DFS for some graphs. Weaknesses: Requires additional space for storage of path lengths and is not as straightforward to implement.
  • Method 3: Bellman-Ford Adaptation. Strengths: Can handle negative weights and complex graph structures. Weaknesses: Less intuitive for the given problem and generally slower than other algorithms.
  • Method 4: BFS with Level Counting. Strengths: Non-recursive and can be faster in sparse graphs. Weaknesses: Requires a modification of the standard BFS algorithm.
  • Bonus Method 5: NetworkX Library. Strengths: Very concise and easy to use with built-in functions. Weaknesses: Depends on an external library and doesn’t teach underlying algorithmic concepts.