What is the difference between the Dijkstra Algorithm and the Prim's Algorithm?

What is the difference between the Dijkstra Algorithm and the Prim's Algorithm?

The main difference between Dijkstra's Algorithm and Prim's Algorithm lies in their applications and objectives.

Dijkstra's Algorithm is primarily used for finding the shortest path between two nodes in a weighted graph. It calculates the shortest path from a single source node to all other nodes in the graph. The algorithm assigns tentative distances to all nodes and iteratively updates them until the shortest path is determined. Dijkstra's Algorithm does not consider the concept of a minimum spanning tree.

On the other hand, Prim's Algorithm is used for finding the minimum spanning tree (MST) of a weighted graph. The MST is a subset of the graph that connects all nodes with the minimum total edge weight. Prim's Algorithm starts with an arbitrary node and greedily adds the minimum weight edge that connects the current MST to a new node. It continues this process until all nodes are included in the MST.

In summary, Dijkstra's Algorithm finds the shortest path between two nodes, while Prim's Algorithm finds the minimum spanning tree of a graph.