Algorithm Design | 1st Edition

Chapter 3 question 3

3. The algorithm described in Section 3.6 for computing a topological ordering of a DAG repeatedly finds a node with no incoming edges and deletes it. This will eventually produce a topological ordering, provided that the input graph really is a DAG. But suppose that we're given an arbitrary graph that may or may not be a DAG. Extend the topological ordering algorithm so that, given an input directed graph G, it outputs one of two things: (a) a topological ordering, thus establishing that G is a DAG; or (b) a cycle in G, thus establishing that G is not a DAG. The running time of your algorithm should be O(m+n ) for a directed graph with n nodes and m edges