MH 1301 Discrete Mathematics

Assignment 10 Solutions

Question 1 (review of previous lecture)

1. How many graphs with 6 vertices, 14 edges (and vertex labels {1, . . . , n}) exist?
Solution: A complete graph on 6 vertices has 15 edges, so we have to choose
1 edge for removal. Hence there are 15 such graphs.

2. How many non-isomorphic simple graphs with 4 vertices and 2 edges exist?
Solution: 2. The edges can have a vertex in common (this is a path with
three vertices together with an isolated vertex), or not (two disjoint edges).

3. How many non-isomorphic graphs with 4 vertices exist, that have an Euler
circuit?
Solution: 3. Every vertex must have degree 2 or 0. This is possible for the
graph on 4 vertices without edges, for the graph consisting of a C3 plus an
isolated vertex, and for C4 .

4. Find a planar 3-regular graph.

Solution: K4 .

5. Is there a planar graph with 10 vertices and 25 edges?

Solution: No. Such a graph can have at most 3 · 10 − 6 = 24 edges by the
corollary of Euler’s formula.

6. Determine the chromatic numbers of the following three graphs (called wheel
graphs).
Solution: The wheel graphs are cycles together with a central vertex that is
connected to all other vertices, and hence needs another color. So the chromatic
numbers are 4,3,4.

7. Under which condition is there a graph on n vertices, where all vertices have
degree 1?

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 Solution: If and only if n ≥ 2 is even. Due to the handshaking lemma n
cannot be odd, and when n is even we can pair vertices and connect the pairs
by an edge each.

8. True or false: a planar graph that has no subgraph that is an odd cycle can be
2-colored.
Solution: True! A graph that has no odd cycle is bipartite and can be colored
with two colors, whether planar or not.

9. How many edges does one have to add to the wheel graph W5 (see above) so
that the resulting (simple) graph is non-planar?
Solution: Since the graph has 5 vertices, the only way to make it non-planar,
is to add edges until the graph becomes K5 . There are 2 edges in K5 that are
not in W5 , hence the answer is 2.

10. True or false: A connected graph in which the longest simple path has length
2 is a tree.
Solution: True! Such a graph cannot have a (simple) cycle, is connected, and
hence a tree.

11. Is there a connected planar graph with n vertices and 2n regions?

Solution: No. According to the corollary of Euler’s formula, such a graph
can have at most 3n − 6 edges, and according to Euler’s formula at most
3n − 6 − n + 2 = 2n − 4 regions.

12. Is there a connected planar graph with n vertices and n regions?

Solution: Yes. The wheel graph Wn (a cycle Cn−1 together with an extra
vertex connected to all other vertices) has n regions.

13. Is there a connected, planar, bipartite graph with n regions and n ≥ 3 vertices?

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 Solution: No. According to corollary 2 of Euler’s formula, such a graph has
at most 2n − 4 edges, and by Euler’s formula at most n − 2 regions.
14. Is there a connected planar graph with 6 vertices and 8 regions?
Solution: Yes. Take the wheel W6 , and add two “ears” on the outside. The
ears must be distinct, new edges.
15. If we add three new edges to W6 (so that the result is a simple graph), can the
result be planar?
Solution: No. If the result would be planar, then this would be a planar
graph with 6 vertices and 13 edges. According to Corollary 9.14, the number
of edges in a planar graph with 6 vertices can be at most 3 · 6 − 6 = 12 though.
16. How many edges are on a Hamilton path?
Solution: A Hamilton path visits every vertex exactly once (without coming
back to the first vertex), and hence has n − 1 edges.
17. Is there a connected graph with an Euler path that has the degree sequence
4,4,2,1,1?
Solution: No. Such a graph would have 5 vertices, with 2 of them connected
to all other vertices. Hence there could be no vertices of degree 1. It does not
matter that the graph is furthermore supposed to have an Euler path.

Question 2

Assume that n ≥ 7,

1. How many (non-isomorphic) trees with n vertices are there in which one vertex
has degree n − 1?
2. How many (non-isomorphic) trees with n vertices are there in which one vertex
has degree n − 2?
3. How many (non-isomorphic) trees with n vertices are there in which one vertex
has degree n − 3?

Solution:

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 1. A tree with n vertices has n − 1 edges, so if a vertex has degree n − 1, the graph
must be K1,n−1 (also called a star). That is, there is only 1 (non-isomorphic)
tree of this type.
2. If one vertex has degree n−2 then we have a star K1,n−2 plus one more edge and
one more vertex vn . vn is not connected to the vertex with degree n−2, because
then the degree of that vertex would be n − 1. Hence vn is connected to some
other vertex. Since they all look the same, there is only 1 (non-isomorphic)
tree of this type.
3. Now suppose a vertex has degree n − 3. First note that no other vertex has
degree n − 3 as well, since they would be connected to 2(n − 3) − 1 edges
together (they might share 1 edge), which is 2n − 7 ≥ n for all n ≥ 7, i.e., the
graph would not be a tree.
Hence there is exactly one vertex with degree n − 3, and we can start with
a K1,n−3 . There are now 2 other vertices and 2 edges. These can either be
connected to two of the other (n − 3) vertices (A), both to one of the other
vertices (B), or as a path to one of the other vertices (C). Hence there are 3
(non-isomorphic) graphs of this type.

Question 3

Write down the pre-order, in-order, and post-order traversal of the following two
trees, respectively.

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 r r

a b a b c d

c d e f e f g h i j

g h i j k l k

Solution: The first tree:

• Pre-order: r, a, c, g, h, d, b, e, i, j, f, k, l
• In-order: g, c, h, a, d, r, i, e, j, b, k, f, l
• Post-order: g, h, c, d, a, i, j, e, k, l, f, b, r

The second tree:

• Pre-order: r, a, e, b, f, g, c, h, d, i, j, k
• In-order: e, a, r, f, b, g, h, c, i, d, k, j
• Post-order: e, a, f, g, b, h, c, i, k, j, d, r

Question 4

Prove that a simple graph is a tree if and only if it is connected, but the deletion of
any of its edges produces a graph that is not connected.

Solution: We need to prove this statement in two directions:

→ If we delete any edge, say (u, v), from a tree. We argue that there will be no
path between u and v in the remaining graph. Otherwise assume there is still a

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 path P that connects u and v. Then combining P and (u, v) will give a circuit
in the original tree, which contradicts the tree definition.

← Assume to the contrary that the graph is not a tree. Then there is a circuit
C = (v1 , v2 , . . . , vn , v1 ). Now consider a subgraph G0 defined from G by deleting
an edge, say (v1 , v2 ), from circuit C. We claim that G0 is still connected. This
is because for any path P in G between any two vertices x and y, if (v1 , v2 ) is
not in P , then x and y are connected in G0 ; if (v1 , v2 ) ∈ P , x and y are still
connected through P and the rest of circuit (v2 , v3 , ..., vn , v1 ). Hence, G0 is still
connected, which contradicts to the assumption.