Let $G(V,E)$ be a graph with $|V|=n$ vertices. Its adjacency matrix
is an $n \times n$ array whose $(i, j)$th entry is
$$
a_{ij} =
\begin{cases}
1 & \text{if there is an edge from $v_i$ to $v_j$}\\
0 & \text{otherwise.}\\
\end{cases}
$$
For undirected graphs, the matrix is symmetric since an edge $\{u, v\}$ can be taken in either
direction.
The biggest convenience of this format is that the presence of a particular edge can be
checked in constant time, with just one memory access. On the other hand the matrix takes
up $O(n^2)$ space, which is wasteful if the graph does not have very many edges.
