DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,

INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
Landline No. (082) 291 1882

Week 14 – Mathematics in the Modern World

Unit 5: Apportionment and Voting

Topic: Graph and Euler Circuit

Learning Outcomes:
1. Understanding the basic terms and concepts of graph
theory.
2. Recognize that graph theory has many varied applications
in our world.
3. Construct the graph of the given information involving
connectedness.

Concept Digest (Discussion)

In our world, we experience different connections or
linkages in our lives. Some of these connections are the
following: families are connected through blood relations of
different generations; our friends are connected on social media,
such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; cities are connected by
roads; islands are connected by bridges; computers and any other
technologies are connected across the Internet. Such connections
can be illustrated and analyzed using a branch of mathematics
called Graph Theory. It is also known as the Mathematics of
Graph.
Graph Theory is used as a tool to solve some practical
problems in our daily living. Some applications are in social
networks, communication lines, transportation, modelling traffic,
scheduling, route planning, coloring maps, and some other
situations that involve connections.

Graphs and Euler’s Circuit

What do we mean by connections?
The term “connection” is synonyms with the term influences,
networks, contacts, associates, acquaintances, friends, links,
relations, bonds, ties, and the unions. The following figures
give us concrete ideas on what a connection is all about.

What is a Graph?
A graph is a pictorial representation of a set of objects
where some pairs of objects are connected by links. The
interconnected objects are represented by points termed as

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
Landline No. (082) 291 1882

vertices, and the links that connect the vertices are called
edges.
A Graph is a collection of vertices (nodes) and edges
(arcs), which connects vertices (nodes) in the graph. Generally,
a graph G is represented as G = (V,E), where V is a set of
vertices, and E is a set of edges.

Example 1: A graph with 5 vertices and 6 edges is shown below. We

labeled this graph as graph G, and it can be defined as G =
(V,E). Where V = { A , B , C , D , E} and E =
{ ( A , B ) , ( A , C ) , ( A , D ) , ( B , D ) , ( C , D ) , ( B , E ) ,(E , D) }.

Edge
A B

Vertices E

C D

In constructing graphs, consider the following reminders:

 The edges can be drawn either straight or curved, it DOES
NOT matter.
 The lengths of edges and the placement of the vertices are
NOT important.
 The graph simply illustrates connections between vertices.
 It consists of only “piece”.

DEFINITIONS GRAPH EXAMPLES

Connected Graph: A graph is
connected if there is a path
connecting every pair of
vertices.
A multigraph is a graph with
multiple edges between the
same vertices. These edges
are called parallel or
multiple edges.
Disconnected graph is a
graph consisting of two
different sections.

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
Landline No. (082) 291 1882

A loop is an edge that

connects a vertex to itself.

A simple graph is a graph

that has no loops or
multiple edges.
A null graph is a graph with
vertices, but no edges. It
is also an example of a
disconnected graph.
An isolated vertex is a
vertex that has no edges
incident with it.
A pendant vertex is a vertex
that has one edge incident
with it.
A complete graph is a
connected graph in which
every possible edge is drawn
between vertices (without
any multiple edges).
The degree of a vertex is
the number of edges that
meet at a vertex. The degree
of the vertex v is denoted
by deg(v). note that a loop
at a vertex contributes two
to the degree of that
vertex.

Equivalent Graphs
The graphs are called equivalent graph if the edges form the
same connections of vertices in each graph.

Example 1: are the following graphs equivalent to each other?

B A
A D A

E E
D B B C

D C C

Solution: Notice that the graphs above represent the same

connections among the vertices, so they are all equivalent.

Euler’s Graph

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
Landline No. (082) 291 1882

A path in a graph can be thought of as a movement form one

vertex to another by traversing edges. If a path ends at the same
vertex at which it started, it is considered a closed path or
circuit.
A circuit that uses every edge but never uses the same edge
twice is called an Euler circuit. (The path may cross through
vertices more than once.)

Example: Consider the graph below:

The path A-D-G-H-E-C-B-A is a circuit because it begins and
ends at the same vertex.
The path A-D-F-G-E-H is not a circuit as it does not begin
and end at the same vertex.
The path D-B-E-G-D-A-B-C-E-H-G-F-D is an Euler circuit. This
path begins and ends at the same vertex, and each edge of the
graph is used exactly once.

D B

F
C

G E

The path A-B-C-E-H-G-E-B-D-A is NOT an Euler circuit. Notice

that even the path begins and ends at the same vertex, the edges
DF, DG, and FG are not used.

The path A-B-C-E-H-G-F-D-A-B-E-G-D-A begins and ends at

vertex A but uses edges AB and AD twice, so it is NOT an Euler
circuit.

Eulerian Graph Theorem

A connected graph is Eulerian if and only if every vertex of
the graph is of even degree.

Example 1: Which of the following graphs has an Euler circuit?

a. b.

Solutions:
a. The vertices, C and D are of odd degree. By the Eulerian
Graph Theorem, the graph does not have any Euler circuit.

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
Landline No. (082) 291 1882

b. All vertices are of even degree. By the Eulerian Graph

Theorem, the graph has an Euler circuit.

Euler Paths
Pen-Tracing Puzzles:
Consider the shown diagram. Can you trace this
diagram without lifting your pencil from the paper?
Note that you need to trace each segment exactly
once.
By trial and error, you may discover a tracing
that works. Even though there are several possible
tracings, you may notice that only certain starting
points seem to allow a complete tracing. How do we
know which point to start from? How do we know that a solution
exists?

Euler Path Theorem

A connected graph contains an Euler path if and only if the
graph has two vertices of odd degree with all other vertices of
even degree. Furthermore, every Euler path must start at one of
the vertices of odd degree and end at the other.
Always remember that an Euler path does not require that we
start and stop at the same vertex, while an Euler circuit does.

Example 1: An application of Euler Paths

A postman is scheduled to deliver the letter envelops in the
city. He would like to stroll across all of the streets shown in
the figure. (Note: Vertices represent the intersection of
streets). The postman does not need to return to the starting
place, so the trip can begin from any street intersections. Is it
possible for the postman to traverse all of the streets exactly
once? If yes, help the postman design a route for his delivery.

Solution: In the map, there are only two vertices of odd degree,
the vertices D and H. the rest of the vertices are of
even degree. Thus, an Euler path exists, and so it is
possible for the postman to design a route that travels
each street once. The postman must start from either one
of the vertices with odd degree and end in the other
vertex of odd degree. By trial and error, one of the
Euler paths is D-A-B-C-F-B-E-I-H-G-D-E-H.

Hamilton Paths and Circuits (Cycles)

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
Landline No. (082) 291 1882

In the Eulerian circuits, we look at paths that use every

edge of a graph exactly once. Now, we are interested in paths
that visit each vertex once, regardless of whether all edges are
used or not.
A path that uses each vertex of a graph exactly once and
returns to the starting vertex is called Hamiltonian circuit. A
graph that contains a Hamiltonian circuit is called Hamiltonian.

Example 1: Consider the map of the cities represented by the

graph as shown below. If we want to visit each city, we
can travel along the route B-G-F-E-D-A-C-B. This path
visits each vertex once and returns to the starting
vertex without visiting any vertex twice. We call such a
path a Hamiltonian circuit. Another possible Hamiltonian
circuit is C-A-D-E-F-G-B-C.

A path that contains every vertex of the graph but does not
return to the starting point is called Hamiltonian path.

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
Landline No. (082) 291 1882