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Digraphs: I. Intro To Digraphs
Digraphs: I. Intro To Digraphs
I. Intro to Digraphs
We now turn our focus to directed graphs, or graphs where all edges have directions associated with them. Because we
mathematicians are lazy, we usually just call these digraphs.
Digraph terminology:
Let D be a digraph. Then
The edges of D are called arcs.
The vertex where an arc starts is called its initial point.
The vertex where an arc ends is called its terminal point.
The graph formed by disregarding the directions on the edges of D is called the underlying graph of D.
Example 1
Consider the digraph shown here.
a.
b.
Example 2
Draw the digraph with following specifications:
arc
e1
e2
e3
e4
e5
e6
e7
initial point
v1
v3
v3
v4
v2
v4
v3
initial point
terminal point
v2
v2
v4
v1
v4
v2
v3
terminal point
Problem
Return to example 2. Find the indegree and outdegree for each vertex of the graph from Example 2.
b.
c.
Definition
Let D be a digraph.
If every vertex of D is reachable from any other vertex in D, then we call D strongly connected.
If the underlying graph of D is connected, then we say D is weakly connected.
Note that we do not call a graph both strongly connected and weakly connected. Strongly connected "trumps" weakly
connected.
Example 5
Which of the two digraphs shown here is strongly connected and which is weakly connected? Why?
Example
Perform a depth-first search on the graph shown below.
V. Orientable Graphs
Question: Suppose we have a graph that represents a network of streets in a town where vertices represent intersection and
edges represent streets. Can we make all the streets one-way streets and still have a strongly connected graph?
To answer this question, we consider the orientation of a graph.
Definition
Let G be a graph. If every edge in G can be given a direction such that the result is a strongly connected digraph, then G is
said to be orientable.
Definition
Suppose G is a connected graph. An edge of G whose removal results in a disconnected graph is called a bridge.
Then we assert the following theorem:
Theorem
A graph G is orientable iff it is connected and has no bridges.
We have an algorithm for producing an orientation for an orientable graph:
Algorithm for Orienting a Graph
Input: orientable graph G
Procedure:
1. Perform a depth-first search on G. Obtain a spanning tree T.
2. Assign directions to the edges of T as follows: Each edge is directed from vertices of lower to higher depth-first
number.
3. Assign directions to all edges of G that are not in T as follows: Each edge is directed from vertices of higher to lower
depth-first number.
Output: an orientation for G
Problem
Determine whether the graph shown below is orientable. If it is, orient the graph so that it is strongly connected.