Graphs in the Real World
This article is written as a response to a technical interview question I wrote: What is the use of graphs in the real world? What all can be displayed with these graphs?
Graphs have many different applications and can be applied to many different problems. While there are basic answers, like a map routing you from one place to another, there are far more complex answers, like social networks connecting you to friends, or a corporation connecting their suppliers and distributors to each other to optimize truck space and shipping costs.
Graphs can contain information that traditionally would not be expected in graph form, and this allows it to be more versatile. In the example in the shortened answer, power companies can use graphs to map out possibilities of where to lay their wires to provide power. Using a graph or map allows these companies to use algorithms to find minimum spanning trees, such as Prim’s or Kruskal’s, to find the least amount of wire required so that none of their wires are being wasted in a place where it could be used elsewhere.
Similarly, in the example of the corporation tracking suppliers and distributors, they could graph the companies they work with based on location. This would allow them to use community detection algorithms, such as Girvan Newman, which can minimize the amount of gas being used in trucks by having the trucks either carry or pick-up materials at contracted companies within close distances of each other, instead of sending multiple trucks out to a given city that needs a delivery. Graphs have a wide breadth of uses and can be used in almost any field.
Further Reading
Included here are links that discuss wide uses of graphs in the real world, not all of which are initially thought of as graphs.
