CS201 : Discrete Mathematics

Semester II, 2010-11, CSE, IIT Kanpur

Practice problems on Graph Theory

Note : Give complete details of the analysis of your solution. Be very rigorous in providing any
mathematical detail in support of your arguments. Also mention any Lemma/Theorem you use.

1. Let G be a graph containing a cycle C. Assume that G contains a path

of length at least k between
two vertices of C. Show that G contains a cycle of length at least k.

2. What is the diameter of a graph on n vertices where degree of each vertex is at least n/2 ?

3. Prove that every graph on n vertices and m edges has a subgraph containing at least m/2 edges.

4. Consider an adjacency matrix M of a connected graph. Prove that there exists a number t such
that if we keep on squaring the matrix M a total of t times, we shall get a matrix all whose entries
are non-zero. Try to express t as a function of some parameter of the underlying graph.

5. Show that for any connected graph G

radius(G) diam(G) 2radius(G)

6. Show that a tree without a vertex of degree 2 has more leaves than other vertices. Can you find a
very short proof that does not use induction ?

7. Prove right from scratch that K33 is not planar.

8. Let G be a connected planar graph on n 3 vertices. Prove that if G does not contain any cycle
of length 3, then the following inequality holds true :

m 2n 4

Use the above inequality to prove that such a planar graph is 4-colorable. (Such graph is in fact 3
colorable. But the proof is beyond the level of a practice/exam problem).

9. Let G1 and G2 be two graphs. Let u belongs to G1 and v belongs to graph G2 . Suppose we glue
together vertices u and v. Let G be the graph thus obtained. Express the chromatic polynomial
pG (k) in terms of pG1 (k) and pG2 (k).

10. You your analytical skills to find out the chromatic polynomial of the graph shown in the following
figure.

1
11. Let G be a graph. Show that it has at least (G) vertices of degree (G) 1 or more.

12. Prove that (G) (G) n.

13. Consider a bipartite graph with vertex sets A, B where degree of each vertex is k for some fixed
k 1. Prove that there exists a maximum matching where each vertex is matched.

14. A simple graph that is isomorphic to its complement is called self complimentary graph. Prove
that if a graph is self complimentary, then it must have either 4k or 4k + 1 edges. Find all self
complimentary graphs with 4 or 5 vertices.

15. Use induction to prove that a graph on 2k vertices which does not contain any triangle (cycle of
length 3) has at most k 2 edges.

16. Prove that any simple graph on n vertices and more than (n 1)(n 2)/2 edges must be connected.

17. Recall that Ki,j is a complete bipartite graph with i vertices on one side and j vertices on another
side. For what values of i, j, is Ki,j planar ?

18. Let G be a graph on 11 or more vertices. Prove that both G and G can not be planar.

19. Let G be a graph on n vertices where degree of each vertex is d. Prove that (G) n/(n d).

20. What is chromatic polynomial for a cycle on n vertices ?

21. Design an instance of the stable marriage problem with 4 males and 4 females for which the algorithm
discussed in the class will return a stable marriage such that each female gets the most desired male.

22. What is the relation between Stirlings number of second kind S(m, n) and the number of onto
functions ?

23. For an equivalence relation R defined on a set A, xRy if and only if [x] = [y] for any two elements
x, y A. This can be used to prove that [x] = [y] or [x] [y] = for any two elements x, y A.
We gave only a sketch of the proof for these facts. Reconstruct the complete proof on your own
and explore the places in this proof where you exploit each of the three properties of an equivalence
relation. In this manner, convince yourself that all the three properties are crucial to show that the
equivalence relation R induces a partion on the set A.