Chapter 3 : Graph Theory

1
 Topics

3.1 What Is a Graph?

3.2 Paths, Cycles, and Trails
3.3 Vertex Degree and Counting

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 3.1 What Is a Graph?

 A graph G is a triple consisting of:

X
– A vertex set V(G) e1 e6
e2
– An edge set E(G) W Y
e5
– A relation between an edge and a pair of vertices e4
e3 e7
Z

Definitions

 Loop: An edge whose endpoints are equal

 Multiple edges: Edges have the same pair of endpoints

Multiple
edges
loop 3
 Simple graph: A graph has no loops or multiple edges

Multiple
edges
loop

It is not simple. It is a simple graph.

 Two vertices are adjacent and are neighbors if

they are the endpoints of an edge. A B
 Example:
A and B are adjacent.
A and D are not adjacent. C D
4
 Finite graph: an graph whose vertex set and edge set are
finite.
 Null graph: the graph whose vertex set and edges are empty.

 Complement of G: The complement G’ of a simple graph G :

u
u
• A simple graph
v y
• V(G’) = V(G) y v

• E(G’) = { uv | uv E(G) }
w x w
x
G G’
 A Clique in a graph: a set of pairwise adjacent vertices (a
complete subgraph)
 An independent set in a graph: a set of pairwise nonadjacent
vertices. u
G
 Example:
y v
• {x, y, u} is a clique in G. 5
• {u, w} is an independent set. x w
 A graph G is bipartite if V(G) is the union of two disjoint
independent sets called partite sets of G
 Also: The vertices can be partitioned into two sets such that
each set is independent
• Matching Problem
• Job Assignment Problem
Boys Workers

Girls
Jobs

6
 The chromatic number of a graph G, written x(G), is the
minimum number of colors needed to label the vertices so
that adjacent vertices receive different colors
Blue Green
x(G) = 3

Blue
Red

Example: Scheduling and graph Coloring

 Two committees can not hold meetings at the same

time if two committees have common member
Committee 1 Committee 2

common
member

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 Model:
– One committee being represented by a vertex
– An edge between two vertices if two corresponding
committees have common member
– Two adjacent vertices can not receive the same color
Committee 1 Committee 2

common
member

 Scheduling problem is equivalent to graph coloring problem.

Committee 2
common Common Member
member Different Color
Committee 1
Committee 3

No Common Member
Same Color OK 8
Same time slot OK
 Path: a sequence of distinct vertices such that two
consecutive vertices are adjacent.
• Example: (a, d, c, b, e) is a path
• (a, b, e, d, c, b, e, d) is not a path; it is a walk.
 Cycle: a closed Path
• Example: (a, d, c, b, e, a) is a cycle

a b

e d
 A subgraph of a graph G is a graph H such that:
– V(H)  V(G) and E(H)  E(G) and
– The assignment of endpoints to edges in H is the same as
in G.
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 Example: H1, H2, and H3 are subgraphs of G
a b

G c

e d
a b b
c a 10
H1 H2 H3 c
d
e d e d
 Connected Graph: There exists at least one path between two
vertices.
 Disconnected Graph : Otherwise
• Example:
 H1 and H2 are connected.
 H3 is disconnected.
a b b
c a
H1 d H2 H3 c
e d d
10
e
 Assume ei is an edge whose endpoints are (vj,vk)
 The vertices vj and vk are said to be adjacent.
 The edge ei is said to be incident upon vj
 Degree of a vertex vk is the number of edges incident upon vk .
It is denoted as d(vk)
ei
vj vk

 Let G = (V, E), |V| = n and |E|=m

 The adjacency matrix of G written A(G), is the n-by-n matrix

in which entry ai,j is the number of edges in G with endpoints
{vi, vj}. w w x y z
b w 0 1 1 0
y z x
a c 1 0 2 0
e y 1 2 0 1
x d
z 0 0 1 0 11
 Let G = (V, E), |V| = n and |E|=m

 The incidence matrix M(G) is the n-by-m matrix in which

entry mi,j is 1 if vi is an endpoint of ei and otherwise is 0.
w a b c d e
b w 1 1 0 0 0
y
a c z x 1 0 1 1 0
e
d
y 0 1 1 1 1
x
z 0 0 0 0 1
 An isomorphism from a simple graph G to a simple graph H is
a bijection f:V(G)V(H) such that uv E(G) if and only if
f(u)f(v)  E(H)
• We say “G is isomorphic to H”, written G  H
w y c f1: w x y z
d
c b d a
G H f2: w x y z 12

x z a b a d b c
 Complete Graph: a simple graph whose vertices are pairwise
adjacent.

 Complete bipartite graph (biclique) is a simple bipartite

graph such that two vertices are adjacent if and only if they
are in different partite sets.

Complete Graph Complete Bipartite Graph

 The petersen graph is the simple graph whose

vertices are the 2-element subsets of a 5-element
set and whose edges are pairs of disjoint 2-element
subsets 13
  Assume: the set of 5-element be (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
– Then, 2-element subsets:
(1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (3,4) (3,5) (4,5)
12

45: (4, 5)
35
45 25 34
13 Disjoint, so
connected
24
14
15
23
 Three drawings

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Theorem: If two vertices are non-adjacent in the Petersen Graph,
then they have exactly one common neighbor. 1.1.38

3 elements in these vertices totally

x, y x, z

u, v Since 5 elements totally,

5-3 elements left.
Hence, exactly one of this kind.
 Girth: the length of its shortest cycle.
• If no cycles, girth is infinite

Theorem: The Petersen Graph has girth 5.

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 A walk: a list of vertices and edges v0, e1, v1, …., ek, vk such
that, for 1ik, the edge ei has endpoints vi-1 and vi.

 A trail : a walk with no repeated edge.

 A u,v-walk or u,v-trail has first vertex u and last vertex v;
these are its endpoints.

 A u,v-path: a u,v-trail with no repeated vertex.

 The length of a walk, trail, path, or cycle is its number of

edges.

 A walk or trail is closed if its endpoints are the same.

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 A u,v-walk or u,v-trail has first vertex u and last vertex v;
these are its endpoints.

 A u,v-path: a u,v-trail with no repeated vertex.

 The length of a walk, trail, path, or cycle is its number of

edges.

 A walk or trail is closed if its endpoints are the same.

Lemma: Every u,v-walk contains a u,v-path
Example:
Delete

W
u
P
v 17
  The components of a graph G are its maximal connected
subgraphs.

 A component (or graph) is trivial if it has no edges; otherwise

it is nontrivial.

 An isolated vertex is a vertex of degree 0.

r s u v w y z

q t p x

Theorem: Every graph with n vertices and k edges has at least n-k components.

n=2, k=1, n=3, k=2, n=6, k=3, n=6, k=3,

1 1 3 4 18
component component components components
 A cut-edge or cut-vertex of a graph is an edge or vertex
whose deletion increases the number of components.
Cut-edge Not a Cut-vertex

Cut-edge

Cut-vertex

 G-e or G-M : The subgraph obtained by deleting an edge e or

set of edges M.
 G-v or G-S : The subgraph obtained by deleting a vertex v or
set of vertices S.
G G-e

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 An induced subgraph:
• A subgraph obtained by deleting a set of vertices.
• We write G[T] for G- T’, where T’ =V(G)-T;
• G[T] is the subgraph of G induced by T.
Example:
Assume T:{A, B, C, D}

A B A B

E
C D C D
G G[T]
More Examples:
– G2 is the subgraph of G1 induced by (A, B, C, D)
– G3 is the subgraph of G1 induced by (B, C)
– G4 is not the subgraph induced by (A, B, C, D)

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 A B B
A B B A

C
E
C D C D
C D
G1 G2 G3 G4

 A set S of vertices is an independent set if and only if the subgraph

induced by it has no edges.
B B
• G3 is an example. A

C
E
C D

G1 G3
Theorem: An edge e is a cut-edge if and only if e belongs to no cycles.
C
Example:
x e y
u v
P 21
Lemma: Every closed odd walk contains an odd cycle
Odd = Odd + Even

v
Odd
Even

Theorem: A graph is bipartite if and only if it has no odd cycle.

A B
Examples: A B
F C

E D

D C
A B
A B
C D
22
C D
E F
 A graph is Eulerian if it has a closed trail containing all edges.
 We call a closed trail a circuit when we do not specify the first vertex
but keep the list in cyclic order.
 An Eulerian circuit or Eulerian trail in a graph is a circuit or trail
containing all the edges.
 An even graph is a graph with vertex degrees all even.
 A vertex is odd [even] when its degree is odd [even].
 A maximal path in a graph G is a path P in G that is not contained in
a longer path.
• When a graph is finite, no path can extend forever , so maximal
(non-extendible) paths exist.

Lemma: If every vertex of graph G has degree at least 2, then G contains

a cycle.
Theorem: A graph G is Eulerian if and only if it has at most one
nontrivial component and its vertices all have even degree. 23
Proposition: Every even graph decomposes into cycles

Proposition: If G is a simple graph in which every vertex has degree at

least k, then G contains a path of length at least k. If k2, then G also
contains a cycle of length at least k+1.

 The degree of vertex v in a graph G, written or d(v), is the

number of edges incident to v, except that each loop at v counts
twice
 The maximal degree is (G)
 The minimum degree is  (G)
G A B
d(B) = 3, d(C) = 2
F C
Δ(G) = 3, δ(G) = 2
E D

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 G is regular if (G) =  (G)
 G is k-regular if the common degree is k.
 The neighborhood of v, written Ng(v) or N(v) is the set of
vertices adjacent to v.

3-regular

 The order of a graph G, written n(G),

is the number of vertices in G.
 An n-vertex graph is a graph of order
n.
 The size of a graph G, written e(G), is
the number of edges in G.
 For nN, the notation [n] indicates
the set {1,…, n}.
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Proposition: (Degree-Sum Formula)
If G is a graph, then vV(G)d(v) = 2e(G)

Theorem: If k>0, then a k-regular bipartite graph has the same

number of vertices in each partite set.
A technique for counting a set 1/3 1.3.10
Example: The Petersen graph has ten 6-cycles
– Let G be the Petersen graph.
– Being 3-regular, G has ten copies of K1,3 (claw) . We
establish a one-to-one correspondence between the 6-
cycles and the claws.
– Since G has girth 5, every 6-cycle F is an induced
subgraph.
• see below
– Each vertex of F has one neighbor outside F.
• d(v)= 3, v V(G) If Existing, Girth =3.
But Girth=5 so no such an edge