Graph Theory

Samuel Hsiang
December 1, 2014
if elsa likes graphs they must be very excellent Franklyn Wang

Introduction

There will be lots of definitions and theorems in this handout.

Definition 1. A graph G = (V, E) is a collection V of vertices and E of edges.
Definition 2. A directed graph G = (V, A) is a collection of vertices and ordered pairs or
arcs (u, v) A directed from u to v. An undirected graph is a graph that is not directed.
Edges in undirected graphs are denoted {u, v}.
Definition 3. An undirected graph is called simple if it contains no loops and each pair of
vertices has at most one edge associated. Unless otherwise specified all graphs in this lecture
are assumed to be simple.
Definition 4. The degree d(v) of a vertex v is the number of edges connected to v.

Warm-Up

Exercise 1 (Handshaking Lemma). At a party each person counts the number of person he
or she has met before. Is it possible for the sum of these counts to be odd?
Exercise 2. Is it possible for each vertex of a simple graph to have different degree?
Exercise 3. Show
X

d(u) + d(v) =

(d(v))2 .

vV

{u,v}E

Exercise 4. Let G be a connected graph. Show

X
{u,v}E

1
1
+
= |V | .
d(u) d(v)

More Terminology

Definition 5. Two vertices are adjacent if there is an edge associated with them.
Definition 6. A graph is bipartite if the vertex set can be partitioned into two sets V1 , V2
such that all edges in the graph have one vertex in V1 and the other in V2 .
Definition 7. The chromatic number of a graph is the minimum number of colors needed
to color the vertices without giving the same color to any two adjacent vertices.
Definition
8. A clique or complete graph on n vertices Kn is the n-vertex graph with all


n
possible edges.
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Definition 9. A complete bipartite graph Km,n is the bipartite graph with V = V1 V2 ,
|V1 | = m, |V2 | = n, and all mn edges from a vertex in V1 to a vertex in V2 .
Definition 10. A walk is a sequence of not-necessarily-distinct, pairwise-adjacent vertices.
Definition 11. A path is a sequence of distinct, pairwise-adjacent vertices.
Definition 12. A graph is connected if there is a path between every pair of distinct vertices.
Definition 13. A cycle is a path in which the first and last vertices are adjacent.
Definition 14. An Eulerian path is a path that traverses every edge exactly once. An
Eulerian circuit is a walk that traverses every edge exactly once and returns to its starting
point.
Definition 15. A Hamiltonian path is a path that includes every vertex. A Hamiltonian
cycle is a cycle that includes every vertex.
Definition 16. A forest is a graph with no cycles.
Definition 17. A tree is a connected forest.
Definition 18. A graph G0 = (V 0 , E 0 ) is a subgraph of G = (V, E) if and only if V 0 V and
E 0 E. If G0 is a subgraph of G, G is a supergraph of G0 .
Definition 19. Given a subset U of the vertices, the induced subgraph G[U ] is the graph
obtained by deleting vertices outside U and only retaining edges with both endpoints in U .

Planar Graphs

Definition 20. A graph is called planar if it is possible to draw it in the plane without any
crossing edges.
Definition 21. Given a graph G = (V, E), and some edge e between vertices x, y in G, the
graph formed by contracting the edge e is the graph G0 with vertex set V 0 = V \{x, y}{vxy },
where vxy is the vertex formed by the contraction of e, and is adjacent to all neighbours of
x and all neighbors of y.
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Definition 22. G0 is called a minor of the graph G if G0 can be formed from G by deleting
edges and vertices and by contracting edges.
Definition 23. A subdivision or expansion of a graph is the introduction of a new vertex w
and the replacement of an edge {u, v} by {u, w} and {w, v}. The reverse operation is called
smoothing.
Theorem 1 (Euler). Every connected planar graph satisfies V E + F = 2, where V is the
number of vertices, E the number of edges, and F the number of faces.
Theorem 2 (Corollary). Unconnected planar graphs satisfy V E + F = 1 + C, where C
is the number of connected components.
Theorem 3 (Kuratowski). A graph is planar if and only if its subgraphs include subdivisions
of neither K5 nor K3,3 .
Theorem 4 (Wagner). A graph is planar if and only if its minors include neither K5 nor
K3,3 .
(Wagner is equivalent to Kuratowski since the smoothing of any subdivision results in a
minor and it can be proven that a graph containing minors equivalent to K5 and K3,3 also
contains one as a subdivision.)
Exercise 5. Show that every planar graph can be properly colored using at most 6 colors.
Theorem 5 (Four Color). Every planar graph can be properly colored using at most 4 colors.

Graph Isomorphism

Look for graph invariants.

Exercise 6. Are the following graphs equivalent?

Exercise 7. How about these two?

Graph isomorphism is an NP problem but it is not known whether or not it is P or NP

complete.
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More Results

Theorem 6. Every connected graph contains a spanning tree.

Theorem 7. Every connected graph with all even degrees has an Eulerian circuit.
Theorem 8 (Corollary). Every connected graph with all even degrees but two has an Eulerian
path.
Theorem 9 (Dirac). Let G be a graph on n vertices with all degrees at least
Hamiltonian cycle.

n
.
2

G has a

Theorem 10 (Max-Flow Min-Cut). The maximum amount of flow from the source to the
sink is equal to the minimum sum of the capacities of edges to be removed to disconnect the
source from the sink.
Theorem 11 (Halls Marriage). For any set S A, Let N (S) denote the set of vertices in
B which are adjacent to at least one vertex in S. Then A has a perfect matching to B if and
only if |N (S)| |S| for every S A.
Theorem 12 (Turan). For r 3, the Turan graph Tr1 (n), with r 1 parts of as equal
size as possible, and all edges between distinct parts, is the unique n-vertex graph with the
maximum number of edges subject to having no Kr subgraphs.

Problems

Problem 1 (PUMaC 2013). A graph consists of a set of vertices, some of which are connected
by (undirected) edges. A star of a graph is a set of edges with a common endpoint. A
matching of a graph is a set of edges such that no two have a common endpoint. Show that
if the number of edges of a graph G is larger than 2(k 1)2 , then G contains a matching of
size k or a star of size k.
Problem 2 (TST 2014). Find the maximum number E such that the following holds: there
is an edge-colored graph with 60 vertices and E edges, with each edge colored either red
or blue, such that in that coloring, there are no monochromatic cycles of length 3 and no
monochromatic cycles of length 5.
Problem 3 (MOP 2014). A crazy physicist discovered a new kind of particle which he
called an imon, after some of them mysteriously appeared in his lab. Some pairs of imons
in the lab can be entangled, and each imon can participate in many entanglement relations.
The physicist has found a way to perform the following two kinds of operations with these
particles, one operation at a time.
1. If some imon is entangled with an odd number of other imons in the lab, then the
physicist can destroy it.
2. At any moment, he may double the whole family of imons in his lab by creating a copy
I 0 of any imon I. During the procedure the copies I 0 and J 0 become entangled if and
only if the original imons I and J are entangled, and each copy I 0 becomes entangled
with the original imon I; no other entanglements occur or disappear at this moment.
Prove that the physicist may apply a sequence of such operations resulting in a family of
imons, no two of which are entangled.
Problem 4 (IMO 2007). In a mathematical competition some competitors are friends.
Friendship is always mutual. Call a group of competitors a clique if each two of them are
friends. (In particular, any group of fewer than two competitiors is a clique.) The number
of members of a clique is called its size.
Given that, in this competition, the largest size of a clique is even, prove that the competitors
can be arranged into two rooms such that the largest size of a clique contained in one room
is the same as the largest size of a clique contained in the other room.
Problem 5 (Baranyai). Given {1, 2, . . . , r} and k|r, consider all subsets of size k. Show that
these subsets can be grouped into groups of size kr such that in each group every number
from 1 to r appears once.
Problem 6. If youre bored and youve solved everything in this lecture, solve SCT Thanksgiving Contest (Topaz) D:
http://codeforces.com/group/M4wsRWBHyZ/contest/201957/problem/D