What is the role of a neighboring vertex in the Dijkstra Algorithm?

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What is the role of a neighboring vertex in the Dijkstra Algorithm?

In the Dijkstra Algorithm, the role of a neighboring vertex is to serve as a potential candidate for the next vertex to be visited and considered for inclusion in the shortest path.

When exploring the graph, the algorithm starts from a given source vertex and iteratively visits its neighboring vertices. It calculates the distance from the source vertex to each neighboring vertex and updates the shortest distance if a shorter path is found. The neighboring vertex with the shortest distance becomes the next vertex to be visited.

The neighboring vertices play a crucial role in determining the shortest path because they allow the algorithm to explore different paths and update the distances accordingly. By considering the neighboring vertices, the algorithm gradually builds the shortest path from the source vertex to all other vertices in the graph.