Unit - 4

Trees
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Definitions : Let G = (V,E) be loop-free undirected
graph. The Graph G is called Tree if G is
connected and contains no cycles.

Ex:

(a) (c)
(b)

(e)
(d) Forest
Theorem 1: In a tree, there is one and only one
path between every pair of vertices.

Proof: Let T be a tree. Then T is a connected

simple graph.
 Since T is connected, there must be at least one
path between every two vertices.
 If there are two paths between a pair of vertices
of T, the union of the paths will become a cycle,
and T cannot be a tree.
 Thus between every pair of vertices in a tree
there must exist one and only one path.
Theorem 2: If in a graph G there is one and only
one path between every pair of vertices, then G is
a tree.
 Proof:

 Combined Theorem 1 and 2: A graph G is a

tree if and only if there is one and only path
between every pair of vertices in G.
Theorem: A tree with n vertices has n-1 edges.
OR
In every tree T=(V,E), |V| = |E | + 1
Proof: We prove the theorem by induction n.
 The theorem is obvious for n=1, n=2 and n=3.
 Assume that the theorem holds for all trees with
fewer than k vertices (i.e. n < k) where k is a
positive integer
 Consider a tree T with k vertices.
 In T, let e be an edge with end vertices u and v.
Since T is a tree, it has no cycles and therefore
there exists no other edges or path between u
and v.
 Therefore deletion of e from T will disconnect the
graph and T- e consists of exactly two
components, say T1 and T2.
 Since T does not contain any cycle, the
components T1 and T2 too do not contain any
cycles. Hence T1 and T2 are trees in their own
right.
 Both of these trees have less than k vertices
each, and therefore, according to the
assumption made (n<k), the theorem holds for
these trees; that is, each of T1 and T2 contains
one less edge than the number of vertices in it.
 Since the total number of vertices in T1 and T2
(taken together) is k, the total number of edges
in T1 and T2 is k - 2.

 But T1 and T2 taken together is T-e. Thus, T-e

contains k-2 edges. Consequently, T has exactly
k-1 edges.

 That’s the proof.

Theorem 3: A tree with n vertices has n-1 edges.
OR
In every tree T=(V,E), |V| = |E | + 1
proved by induction on E

Theorem 4: Any connected graph with n vertices

and n-1 edges is a tree.

 Remark: A disconnected graph with n vertices

and n-1 edges need not be a tree.

Combined theorem 3 and 4: A graph with n

vertices is a tree if and only if it is connected and
has n-1 edges.
Minimally connected graph:
 A connected graph is said to be minimally
connected if the removal of any one edge from it
disconnects the graph.

 Ex:
Theorem: A connected graph is a tree if and
only if it is minimally connected.

Proof: Suppose G is a connected graph which is

not a tree . Then G contains a cycle C.
 The removal of any edge e from this cycle will
not make the graph disconnected. Therefore G
is not minimally connected.
 Thus if a connected graph is not a tree then it is
not minimally connected.
 This is equivalent to saying that if a connected
graph is minimally connected then it is a tree
(contrapositive).
 Conversely, suppose G is a connected graph
which is not minimally connected. Then there
exists an edge e in G such that G-e is
connected.
 Therefore, e must be in some cycle in G. This
implies that G is not a tree.
 Thus, if a connected graph is not minimally
connected then it is not a tree.
 This is equivalent to saying that if a connected
graph is tree, then it is minimally connected
(contrapositive).
 This implies the proof of the theorem.
 If a tree has 2020 vertices, find the sum of the
degrees of the vertices.

No. of vertices |V|=2020

No. of edges is |E|=|V|-1

=2020-1=2019
Therefore by handshaking property,

The sum of degrees of vertices =2|E|=4038

 If a tree T has four vertices of degree 2, one
vertex of degree 3, two vertices of degree 4 and
one vertex degree 5, find the number of leaves in
T.
Let N be the number of leaves (pendant vertices) in T.

Then: total no. of vertices=N+4+1+2+1=N+8

Sum of degrees of vertices=N+24

Total No. of edges = N+7

Therefore by Hand shaking property,

N+24=2(N+7)
N=10
Spanning Trees
 Let G1=(V1, E1) be a subgraph of graph G. It is
called spanning tree if it is a tree and contains
all the vertices of G.
 In other words, a spanning tree of a connected
graph is spanning subgraph that is also a tree.
 Ex:
 If G has n vertices, spanning tree of G must
have n vertices and n-1 edges.
 The spanning trees are also called as skeleton
and scaffolding
 The edges of spanning tree are called its
branches.
 If T is a spanning tree of a graph G, then the
edges of G which are not in T are called chords
of G with respect to T.

 The set of all chords of G is the complement of T

in G. This set is called the chord-set or cotree
of T in G and is denoted as T.

 Ex:
 How many edges must be removed from a
connected graph with v vertices and e edges to
produce a spanning tree?

Ans: e-v+1

Cayley’s Theorem: States that the number of

different spanning trees in the complete graph
Kn is nn-2 .
Theorem: A graph is connected if and only if it
has a spanning tree.

Proof: Let G be a connected graph. If G has no

cycles, then G is a tree and G itself is a
spanning tree of G.

 If G has cycles, delete an edge from each cycle.

The resulting graph G’ is cycle-free, connected
and contains all vertices.

 This graph G’, is a spanning tree of G. thus G

has a spanning tree.
 Conversely, suppose graph G has a spanning
tree T.

 Since T is a tree, there exits a path between

every pair of vertices in T. Since T is a spanning
tree, T contains all vertices of G

 Therefore, there is a path between every pair of

vertices in G. Hence G is connected.

This completes the proof of the theorem.

Prove that a tree with two or more vertices
contains at least two pendant vertices.
 Consider a tree T with n vertices, where n  2.
Then it has n-1 edges. Therefore, the sum of the
degrees of the n vertices must be equal to
2(n-1).
 Thus, if d1,d2,d3,….,dn are the degrees of
vertices of T, we have
d1+d2+d3+…….+dn=2(n-1) =2n-2
i.e., 2(n-1) =  deg(v)  2 |v| = 2n
 If each of d1, d2, …,dn is  2, then their sum must
be atleast 2n. Since this is not true, at least one
of the d’s is less than 2.
 Thus, there is a d which is equal to 1. (since T is
connected, no d can be zero). Let us take this to
be d1, then
d2+d3+…..+dn = (2n - 2) -1 =2n - 3
i.e., 2(n -1) =  deg(v)  1+ 2(n-1)

 This is possible only if at least one of d2,d3,…,dn

is equal to 1. so, there is at least one more d
which is equal to 1.

 Thus, in T, there are at least two vertices with

degree 1; that is, there are at least two pendant
vertices.
For every tree T=(V,E), if |V|  2, then T has
at least two pendant vertices.
Proof: Let |V| = n  2. from theorem, WKT |E| = n-1,
so it follows that 2(n -1) = 2|E| = vV deg(v).
 Since T is connected, we have deg(v)  1 for all
vV.
 If there are k pendant vertices in T, then each of
the other n-k vertices has degree at least 2 and
2(n -1) = 2|E| = vV deg(v)  k +2(n-k).
From this we see that,
[2(n-1)  k+2(n-k)]  [(2n - 2)  (k + 2n - 2k) ]
 [- 2  -k ]  [k  2]
And the result is consequently established.
Rooted trees
 Let D be a directed graph and G be its
underlying graph. We say that D is a directed
tree whenever G is a tree.

 Thus, a directed tree is a directed graph whose

underlying graph is a tree.

 A directed tree T is called a rooted tree if

(i) T contains a unique vertex, called the root,
whose in-degree is equal to 0 and
(ii) The in-degree of all other vertices of T are
equal to 1.
Ex:
 Leaf: In a rooted tree, a vertex v with the out
degree zero is called a leaf (or terminal vertex).
 All other nodes are called branch nodes (or
internal vertices)
 Level: a vertex v is said to be at the kth level or
has level number k if the path from r to v is of
length k.
 Ex:
 Ancestors and Descendants: If v1 and v2 are
two vertices such that v1 has a lower level
number than v2 and there is a path from v1 to v2,
then we say v1 is an ancestor of v2, or that v2 is a
descendant of v1.
 Child and parent: If vertex v1 has a lower level
number than v2 and there is an edge (directed
edge) from v1 to v2 then v1 is called parent of v2
or v2 is called child of v1.
 Siblings: Two vertices with a common parent
are referred to as siblings.
 M-ary tree: A rooted tree T is called an m-ary
tree if every vertex of T is of out-degree  m; that
is if every vertex of T has at most m children.
 Complete m-ary tree: A rooted tree T is called a
complete m-ary tree if every internal vertex of T
is of out-degree m; that is if every internal vertex
of T has exactly m children.
 Binary tree: An m-ary tree for which m=2 is
called a binary tree.
In other words, a rooted tree T is called a
binary tree if every vertex of T is of out-degree
<=2; that is every vertex has at most two
children.
 Also called binary rooted tree

 Complete binary tree: A complete m-ary tree

for which m=2.
In other words, every internal vertex has
exactly two children.
 Balanced tree: If T is a rooted tree and h is the
largest level number achieved by a leaf of T ,
then T is said have height h.
Root node
Interior nodes Height
Leaf nodes

 A rooted tree of height h is said to be balanced

if the level number of every leaf is h or h-1.
 Full binary tree: let T be a complete binary tree
of height h. then T is called a full binary tree if all
the leaves in T are at level h.
 Let T be a complete m-ary tree of order n
with p leaves and q internal vertices.
We have
 n = mq + 1 = mp - 1 / m – 1
 p = (m - 1)q+1 = (m - 1) n + 1 / m
 q=n–1/m=p–1/m–1

For Complete binary tree ( m=2)

 n = 2q + 1 = 2p - 1
 p = q + 1 = 1/2(n+1)
 q = 1/2(n-1) = p - 1