Tag: Difference between Prim’s and Kruskal’s Algorithm

Difference Between Prim’s and Kruskal’s Algorithm

Design & Analysis of Algorithms

Prim’s and Kruskal’s Algorithms-

 

Before you go through this article, make sure that you have gone through the previous articles on Prim’s Algorithm & Kruskal’s Algorithm.

 

We have discussed-

  • Prim’s and Kruskal’s Algorithm are the famous greedy algorithms.
  • They are used for finding the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) of a given graph.
  • To apply these algorithms, the given graph must be weighted, connected and undirected.

 

Some important concepts based on them are-

 

Concept-01:

 

If all the edge weights are distinct, then both the algorithms are guaranteed to find the same MST.

 

Example-

 

Consider the following example-

 

 

Here, both the algorithms on the above given graph produces the same MST as shown.

 

Concept-02:

 

  • If all the edge weights are not distinct, then both the algorithms may not always produce the same MST.
  • However, cost of both the MSTs would always be same in both the cases.

 

Example-

 

Consider the following example-

 

 

Here, both the algorithms on the above given graph produces different MSTs as shown but the cost is same in both the cases.

 

Concept-03:

 

Kruskal’s Algorithm is preferred when-

  • The graph is sparse.
  • There are less number of edges in the graph like E = O(V)
  • The edges are already sorted or can be sorted in linear time.

 

Prim’s Algorithm is preferred when-

  • The graph is dense.
  • There are large number of edges in the graph like E = O(V2).

 

Concept-04:

 

Difference between Prim’s Algorithm and Kruskal’s Algorithm-

 

Prim’s Algorithm Kruskal’s Algorithm
The tree that we are making or growing always remains connected. The tree that we are making or growing usually remains disconnected.
Prim’s Algorithm grows a solution from a random vertex by adding the next cheapest vertex to the existing tree. Kruskal’s Algorithm grows a solution from the cheapest edge by adding the next cheapest edge to the existing tree / forest.
Prim’s Algorithm is faster for dense graphs. Kruskal’s Algorithm is faster for sparse graphs.

 

To gain better understanding about Difference between Prim’s and Kruskal’s Algorithm,

Watch this Video Lecture

 

Next Article- Linear Search

 

Get more notes and other study material of Design and Analysis of Algorithms.

Watch video lectures by visiting our YouTube channel LearnVidFun.