Adjacency Matrix Representation in DSA Typescript - Build from Scratch

Adjacency Matrix Representation

📖 Scenario: You are working on a simple social network app. Each person can be friends with others. We want to represent these friendships using a grid where rows and columns show people, and a 1 means they are friends, 0 means not friends.

🎯 Goal: Build an adjacency matrix to show friendships between 4 people named Alice, Bob, Charlie, and Diana. Then, print the matrix to see the friendship connections clearly.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a 4x4 adjacency matrix with exact values for friendships

Use a variable to store the number of people

Fill the matrix with 1s and 0s to represent friendships

Print the adjacency matrix row by row

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Adjacency matrices are used in social networks, maps, and computer networks to show connections between nodes clearly.

💼 Career

Understanding adjacency matrices helps in roles like software development, data analysis, and network engineering where relationships between entities must be managed.

1

Create the adjacency matrix

Create a variable called adjacencyMatrix as a 2D array of numbers with these exact rows: [0, 1, 0, 1], [1, 0, 1, 0], [0, 1, 0, 1], [1, 0, 1, 0].

DSA Typescript

# Your code here

Hint

Use const adjacencyMatrix: number[][] = [...] to create the 2D array with the exact rows.

2

Add the number of people variable

Create a variable called numPeople and set it to 4 to represent the number of people in the network.

DSA Typescript

const adjacencyMatrix: number[][] = [
  [0, 1, 0, 1],
  [1, 0, 1, 0],
  [0, 1, 0, 1],
  [1, 0, 1, 0]
];
# Your code here

Hint

Use const numPeople: number = 4; to store the number of people.

3

Loop through the matrix to print each row

Use a for loop with variable i from 0 to numPeople - 1 to go through each row of adjacencyMatrix. Inside the loop, create a variable rowString that joins the numbers in adjacencyMatrix[i] with spaces.

DSA Typescript

const adjacencyMatrix: number[][] = [
  [0, 1, 0, 1],
  [1, 0, 1, 0],
  [0, 1, 0, 1],
  [1, 0, 1, 0]
];

const numPeople: number = 4;

# Your code here

Hint

Use for (let i = 0; i < numPeople; i++) and inside it, const rowString = adjacencyMatrix[i].join(' ').

4

Print the adjacency matrix rows

Inside the for loop, add a console.log(rowString) statement to print each row of the adjacency matrix.

DSA Typescript

const adjacencyMatrix: number[][] = [
  [0, 1, 0, 1],
  [1, 0, 1, 0],
  [0, 1, 0, 1],
  [1, 0, 1, 0]
];

const numPeople: number = 4;

for (let i = 0; i < numPeople; i++) {
  const rowString = adjacencyMatrix[i].join(' ');
  # Your code here
}

Hint

Use console.log(rowString) inside the loop to print each row.

Practice

1. What does an adjacency matrix represent in a graph?
Adjacency matrix is a way to show connections between nodes. What does a 1 in the matrix mean?

easy

A. There is no edge between two nodes

B. The graph is weighted

C. The nodes are the same

D. There is a direct edge between two nodes

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand adjacency matrix basics

   An adjacency matrix uses rows and columns to represent nodes. Each cell shows if two nodes connect.

2. Step 2: Interpret the value 1 in the matrix

   A value of 1 means there is a direct edge between the nodes represented by that row and column.

3. Final Answer:

   There is a direct edge between two nodes -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   1 means edge exists [OK]

Hint: 1 means connected, 0 means no connection [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking 1 means no edge
• Confusing node identity with connection
• Assuming matrix shows weights always

2. Which of the following is the correct TypeScript syntax to declare a 3x3 adjacency matrix initialized with zeros without shared row references?

easy

A. const matrix: number[][] = [[0,0,0],[0,0,0],[0,0,0]];

B. const matrix: number[3][3] = new Array(3).fill(new Array(3).fill(0));

C. const matrix = Array(3).map(Array(3).fill(0));

D. const matrix: number[][] = new Array(3).fill(new Array(3).fill(0));

Solution

1. Step 1: Check TypeScript array declaration syntax

   const matrix: number[][] = [[0,0,0],[0,0,0],[0,0,0]]; uses explicit 2D array with nested arrays and zeros, which is valid syntax and creates independent rows.

2. Step 2: Identify issues in other options

   const matrix: number[3][3] = new Array(3).fill(new Array(3).fill(0)); uses invalid TypeScript syntax for fixed-size arrays. const matrix = Array(3).map(Array(3).fill(0)); passes an array to map() instead of a function, causing a runtime error. const matrix: number[][] = new Array(3).fill(new Array(3).fill(0)); uses fill with the same inner array reference, causing shared rows.

3. Final Answer:

   const matrix: number[][] = [[0,0,0],[0,0,0],[0,0,0]]; -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Explicit nested arrays with zeros [OK]

Hint: Use explicit nested arrays to avoid shared references [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using fill with same inner array causing shared rows
• Passing non-function to map()
• Wrong type annotations

3. Given the following adjacency matrix for a directed graph:

const matrix = [
  [0, 1, 0],
  [0, 0, 1],
  [1, 0, 0]
];
console.log(matrix[2][0]);

What will be the output?

medium

A. 1

B. Error

C. undefined

D. 0

Solution

1. Step 1: Locate matrix[2][0]

   Row 2 is [1, 0, 0], so element at index 0 is 1.

2. Step 2: Confirm output of console.log

   console.log prints the value 1 found at matrix[2][0].

3. Final Answer:

   1 -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   matrix[2][0] = 1 [OK]

Hint: Remember matrix[row][column] indexing [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing row and column indices
• Expecting zero instead of one
• Thinking index out of range

4. Consider this TypeScript code snippet to create an adjacency matrix for 3 nodes:

const size = 3;
const matrix = new Array(size).fill(new Array(size).fill(0));
matrix[0][1] = 1;
console.log(matrix);

What is the problem with this code?

medium

A. It creates a matrix with all zeros correctly

B. The matrix is not initialized at all

C. All rows point to the same inner array, so all rows change when one changes

D. It throws a runtime error

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand fill with reference types

   Using fill with new Array(size).fill(0) creates one inner array shared by all rows.

2. Step 2: Effect of modifying matrix[0][1]

   Changing matrix[0][1] changes the shared inner array, so all rows show the change.

3. Final Answer:

   All rows point to the same inner array, so all rows change when one changes -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Shared inner array causes unexpected updates [OK]

Hint: Avoid fill with objects/arrays; use map for unique rows [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming fill creates independent arrays
• Ignoring shared reference behavior
• Expecting only one row to change

5. You have an undirected graph with 4 nodes. You want to represent it using an adjacency matrix in TypeScript. Which of the following code snippets correctly initializes the matrix and sets an edge between node 1 and node 3?

hard

A. const size = 4;
const matrix = new Array(size).fill(new Array(size).fill(0));
matrix[1][3] = 1;
matrix[3][1] = 1;

B. const size = 4;
const matrix = Array.from({ length: size }, () => Array(size).fill(0));
matrix[1][3] = 1;
matrix[3][1] = 1;

C. const size = 4;
const matrix = Array(size).fill(Array(size).fill(0));
matrix[1][3] = 1;

D. const size = 4;
const matrix = Array(size).map(() => Array(size).fill(0));
matrix[1][3] = 1;

Solution

1. Step 1: Check matrix initialization for unique rows

   const size = 4; const matrix = Array.from({ length: size }, () => Array(size).fill(0)); matrix[1][3] = 1; matrix[3][1] = 1; uses Array.from with a function to create unique inner arrays, avoiding shared references.

2. Step 2: Verify setting edges for undirected graph

   Setting matrix[1][3] and matrix[3][1] to 1 correctly represents an undirected edge.

3. Step 3: Identify issues in other options

   Options B and C use fill causing shared inner arrays. const size = 4; const matrix = Array(size).map(() => Array(size).fill(0)); matrix[1][3] = 1; initializes correctly but only sets matrix[1][3] = 1, missing matrix[3][1] = 1 for undirected graph.

4. Final Answer:

   const size = 4; const matrix = Array.from({ length: size }, () => Array(size).fill(0)); matrix[1][3] = 1; matrix[3][1] = 1; -> Option B

5. Quick Check:

   Use Array.from with function for unique rows [OK]

Hint: Use Array.from with function to avoid shared rows [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using fill causing shared inner arrays
• Using map on empty array without initialization
• Setting only one direction for undirected edge