Graph theory - solutions to problem set 6

Exercises

1. What is the maximum number of edges in a graph on n vertices that is not connected?
Solution. If G is disconnected then its vertex set can be split into two parts A and B such that
|A| = i, |B| = n i for some 1 i n 1 and G
has no edge between A and B. So there are at
least i(n i) edges missing in G (out of the n2 potential edges). This function is minimized on
1
i n 1 for i = 1 or i = n 1, so there are at least n 1 edges missing, i.e., G has at most
n1
2 edges. This is indeed the maximum, because such a disconnected graph exists: a clique on n 1
vertices and an isolated vertex.

2. Find a 3-regular connected graph that is not 2-connected.

Solution.

3. Prove that if G1 and G2 are two maximal k-connected subgraphs of G then they share at most k 1
vertices in common.
Solution. Suppose G1 and G2 are distinct k-connected subgraphs with at least k vertices in common.
We will show that G1 G2 is also k-connected, hence G1 and G2 could not have been maximal. Indeed,
let us delete a set X of at most k 1 vertices from G1 G2 . As G1 and G2 are k-connected, both of
G01 = G1 X and G02 = G2 X are connected. Also, G01 and G02 share at least one vertex, because X
cannot contain all the common vertices of G1 and G2 . Hence G01 G02 = (G1 G2 ) X is connected.
4. Prove that every k-connected graph G has at least 21 k|V (G)| edges. For even k and every n k + 1,
find a k-connected graph on n vertices with kn
2 edges.
Solution. The lower bound follows from (G) k, since |E(G)| = 21 d(v) 12 k|V (G)|.
P

For the construction, start with a cycle and connect each vertex to the k/2 nearest neighbors in each
direction. That gives the right number of edges. To see that it is k-connected, remove k 1 vertices
and consider two vertices x, y. One of the two half-cycles between x and y has fewer than k/2 removed
vertices. Then along that half-cycle we can find a path from x to y, because if we travel in one direction,
every vertex has k/2 neighbors in that direction, not all of which can have been removed.
5. Prove that every graph with average degree d contains a non-empty subgraph with minimum degree
at least d/2.
Solution. Let us repeatedly delete a vertex whenever it has degree less than d/2. We claim that the
average degree cannot go below d. Indeed, suppose the graph has n vertices, and we delete one of them
of degree less than d/2. Then the sum of the degrees decreases by less than d (by d/2 for the deleted
vertex and by 1 for every neighbor). We know that the sum of the degrees is at least dn before we
delete the vertex, so after that it is at least d(n 1) the average degree is still at least d.
At some point the process stops because there are only finitely many vertices. And at that point, the
minimum degree of the graph is at least d/2. The graph we end up with is the required subgraph.
Remark. If d > 0, i.e., the original graph has at least one edge, then this argument actually gives a
subgraph that has minimum degree strictly above d/2.
 Problems

6. (a) Use the definitions of connectedness to prove that every 3-regular 2-edge-connected graph is 2-
connected.
Solution. Suppose a 3-regular 2-edge-connected graph is not 2-connected. Then there is a vertex
v such that deleting v splits the graph into components. The degree of v is 3, so it sends (at most)
one edge to one of these components. But then deleting this edge also disconnects the graph,
contradicting the assumption that the graph was 2-edge-connected.
(b) Prove that every 3-regular 3-edge-connected graph is 3-connected.
Solution. From (a), we may assume the graph G is 2-connected. Suppose there are two vertices
u and v such that deleting them splits G into components. We may assume that there is no
component of G {u, v} that is connected to {u, v} by at most 2 edges. Indeed, otherwise
deleting these connecting edges would disconnect G, contradicting our assumption on 3-edge-
connectivity.
It is easy to check that this assumption is only possible if G {u, v} has exactly two components,
and one component sends two edges to u and one edge to v, while the other component sends
two edges to v and one edge to u. In particular, this means that u and v are not connected. But
then deleting the one edges between the components and u or v, we disconnect the graph. This
again contradicts 3-edge-connectivity, so there is no vertex cut of size 2.
7. Prove that a graph is 2-connected if and only if for every three vertices x, y, z, there is a path from x
to z that passes through y.
Solution. We have seen in class that in a k-connected graph, for every vertex s and vertex set T ,
|T | k, there is an s-T fan, i.e. k s-T paths that are disjoint except for the common starting point s.
If our graph is 2-connected then a y-{x, z} fan provides such a path for any choice of x, y, z.
For the other direction, suppose our graph G has such a path for all x, y, z, but it is not 2-connected.
Then there is some cut vertex x that separates a vertex y from some other vertex z. By the assumption,
there is an x-z path P containing y. Now delete the vertex x from G. P x is still a path in G x.
In particular, G x contains a y-z path (a subpath of P x). But this contradicts our assumption
about x separating y from z.
8. Let G be a connected k-regular bipartite graph for k 2. Prove that G is 2-edge-connected.
Solution. Suppose there is an edge e such that G \ e is disconnected. let C be a component of G \ e,
and let CA and CB be the vertices in the two parts of G. We may assume that e has an endpoint in
CA . Now let us count the number of edges in C. It is the sum of the degrees in a part of C. Since G
is k-regular, this means that on the one hand, the number of edges is k|CB |, on the other hand, it is
k|CA | 1 (one vertex of CA lost a degree corresponding to e). But this is impossible because k|CB | is
divisible by k, whereas k|CA | 1 is not.

9. Let G be a k-connected graph, where k 2.

(a) Prove that G contains a cycle of length at least k.
Solution. We know that every k-connected graph has minimum degree at least k. We have also
seen in class that every graph with minimum degree at least k contains a cycle of length at least
k.
(b) Show that if |V (G)| 2k then G contains a cycle of length at least 2k.
Solution. Let us take a cycle C of maximum length. By (a), we may assume that this length is
at least k. Suppose the length of C is less than 2k. Then there is a vertex v not in C. Let us
apply the fan lemma (see problem 7) to find a v-C fan of k paths P1 , . . . , Pk . If C has length less
than 2k then some two of these paths Pi and Pj must have endvertices vi and vj that are adjacent
in the cycle C. But then we can extend C by replacing the edge vi vj by the path (of length at
least 2) through v formed by Pi and Pj . This contradicts our maximality assumption.

2
10. Show that any two vertices in a 3-connected graph are connected by two internally disjoint paths of
different lengths.
Solution. Let x, y be two vertices in a 3-connected graph. There are three internally disjoint paths
P, Q, R between x and y; if some two have different lengths then we are done, so we may assume all
of them have the same length l They cannot all be a single edge, so their common length must be at
least two. In particular, P 0 = P {x, y}, Q0 = Q {x, y} and R0 = R {x, y} are non-empty.
Let us delete x and y for a moment. The graph was 3-connected, so it is still connected. In particular,
there are paths connecting P 0 to Q0 , P 0 to R0 and Q0 to R0 . Let S be a shortest such path, connecting,
say, P 0 to Q0 . By the minimality assumption, S is disjoint from R. Let S have length k, and let us
denote its endpoints by vP P and vQ Q. vP cuts the P into two subpaths P1 and P2 , and vQ cuts
Q into Q1 and Q2 (such that x P1 , Q1 ).
Then P1 S Q2 and Q1 S P2 are two x-y paths whose lengths sum to 2l + 2k. This means that
one of these paths must have length different than l. By our construction, this path is also disjoint
from R, so together with R they provide the required disjoint paths of different lengths.