What's the difference between backtracking and depth first search?

Question

What's the difference between backtracking and depth first search?

Answer 1

Usually, a depth-first-search is a way of iterating through an actual graph/tree structure looking for a value, whereas backtracking is iterating through a problem space looking for a solution. Backtracking is a more general algorithm that doesn't necessarily even relate to trees.

Answer 2

In a depth-first search, you start at the root of the tree and then explore as far along each branch, then you backtrack to each subsequent parent node and traverse it's children

Backtracking is a generalised term for starting at the end of a goal, and incrementally moving backwards, gradually building a solution.

Answer 3

Backtracking is a more general purpose algorithm.

Depth-First search is a specific form of backtracking related to searching tree structures. From Wikipedia:

One starts at the root (selecting some node as the root in the graph case) and explores as far as possible along each branch before backtracking.

It uses backtracking as part of its means of working with a tree, but is limited to a tree structure.

Backtracking, though, can be used on any type of structure where portions of the domain can be eliminated - whether or not it is a logical tree. The Wiki example uses a chessboard and a specific problem - you can look at a specific move, and eliminate it, then backtrack to the next possible move, eliminate it, etc.

Answer 4

Depth first is an algorithm for traversing or searching a tree. See here. Backtracking is a much more broad term that is used whereever a solution candidate is formed and later discarded by backtracking to a former state. See here. Depth first search uses backtracking to search a branch first (solution candidate) and if not successful search the other branch(es).