Most books explain the reason the algorithm doesn\'t work with negative edges as

Question

Most books explain the reason the algorithm doesn't work with negative edges as nodes are deleted from the priority queue after the node is arrived at since the algorithm assumes the shortest distance has been found. However since negative edges can reduce the distance, a future shorter distance might be found; but since the node is deleted it cannot be updated.

Wouldn't an obvious solution to this be to not delete the node? Why not keep the node in the queue, so if a future shorter distance is found, it can be updated? If I am misunderstanding the problem, what is preventing the algorithm from being used with negative edges?

Explanation / Answer

Short answer is that Dijkstra is a greedy algorithm, meaning we assume that we have made the best choice possible in every step of the algorithm. With negative edges, this is no longer possible and thus a greedy algorithm will not suffice.

Here's an analogy: (that might help, or confuse even more) Take a convex optimization problem and poke a concavity into it. Now ask the question why it can't be solved with a linear program. The problem is that the linear program's premise is that once we reach the edge of a convex surface in the direction of optimality, we know for certain it is optimal. With a concavity, this no longer works and the algorithm falls flat. The negative values are like these concavities, they introduce local extrema making it harder to find the global one

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