From Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et al:
We are given a directed graph G = (V,E)
and vertices ${u,v}\in V $ and then the define Unweighted shortest path to be :
Find a path from
u
tov
consisting of the fewest edges . Such a path must be simple , since removing a cycle from a path produces a path with fewer edges.
I know what simple path means . I think it means that basically no edges will be repeated in the path from u
to v
but what does "removing a cycle from a path produces a path with fewer edges" mean ?