Graphs and Trees

Task Background: Graphs and trees provide you with ways to visualize data sets, and the opportunity to do analysis on the data (e.g., shortest path). Knowing the structure of a database enables you to choose a proper algorithm for searching for data within a database.

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write up to 3 paragraphs that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Part I

Trees are somewhat less complicated than graphs, which makes things like data searching easier, when a data has the structure of a tree. However, not all data can be represented by a tree. Describe an example of a data set that cannot be represented by a tree, but that be represented by a more general graph. Explain why it cannot be represented by a tree.

Part II The set of all possible sequences of moves in a chess game can be represented by a tree (decision tree). If you were to write a chess-playing computer program that can determine the best move at each step by searching the tree of possible moves and outcomes, would you use a depth-first or a breadth-first search for the best move at each step in the game?