Formalize the map of Nepal as a graph G = (V,E), where the vertices are the

provinces and edges connect vertices that represent different provinces with a
common border. For example, {1,3} is in E because Provinces 1 and 3 share a
border.

The visual graph representation for the problem given is:

The formal graph is given by

G = {{1,2,3,4,5,6,7},{{1,2},{1,3},{2,3},{3,4},{3,5},{4,5},{4,6},{5,6},{5,7},{6,7}}}

What degree does each vertex of G have?

The degree is given by how many edges each vertex have. Given in order (from
vertex 1 to 7), the degrees are:

d(V) = {2,2,4,3,4,3,2}

If we use a table, we get:

Vertex Degree
1 2
2 2
3 4
4 3
5 4
6 3
7 2

Determine which province is adjacent to the most other provinces.

The province adjacent to the most provinces is the province with the higher
degree. There are two provinces with the same degree, namely the provinces 3
and 5, both are adjacent to 4 other provinces.

Is G planar? If yes, provide a drawing as a justification, that is, draw G so that

edges meet only at vertices. If the graph is planar, how many faces does it
have?

G is planar as it can be seen from the graphical representation already given,

because no edges cross. The number of faces is 5 (counting the outter face).

Does G have an Euler circuit? Explain why or why not

G does not have an Euler circuit because a requisite for this to happen is all
vertexes should have an even degree, which is not the case because the vertexes 4
and 6 have a degree of 3, an odd number.

Does G have a Hamilton path? Why or why not?

If we start from province 3, G does not have a Hamilton path, because we need to
pass through province 3 two twice to be able to go to from the north of the
country to the south and viceversa. But if we were not rooted to province 3, G has
a Hamilton path. For example, we can have a Hamilton path if we start from 1,
following the path 1 => 2 => 3 => 4 => 6 => 7 => 5. This is a Hamiltonian path
with six edges.

How many different colors do you need to color each Province so that no
same color will be adjacent? List the provinces and colors (alternatively you
could also draw them, but this is not required).

From what was learned this week about graph coloring, any planar graph can be
colored with 4 colors or less, and it requires at least 1 color. So the chromatic
number is between 1 and 4.

I colored each vertex with a color, just with the rule of avoiding two adjacent
vertex having the same color. The result is given next:
As you can see, the chromatic number is 3.

Find a subgraph G1 of G that takes you on the shortest path through all
provinces of Nepal, starting in Province 3 and Province 4 as the first stop.
Write your subgraph as G1 = (V,E1). For the purpose of clarity, we assume
that “shortest path” means “a path in G with the fewest number of edges”.

The fewest number of edges would be gotten by visiting each province just once,
it means, following a Hamiltonian path. But as we start from the province 3, there
is no way to follow a Hamiltonian path in this case. Nevertheless we can do our
best and try to visit each province the least number of times.

The shortest path starting from Province 3 and then province 4 would be given
by. 3 => 4 => 6 => 7 => 5 => 3 => 1 => 2. It is a requirement to pass through
Province 3 two times to go to the provinces in the south east (1 and 3). This way
we are following 7 edges.

G1 = {{1,2,3,4,5,6,7},{{1,2},{1,3},{3,4},{3,5},{4,6},{5,7},{6,7}}}

Mt. Everest is located in the north east corner of Province 1. Of course, you
are superbly curious and want to go see the mountain as quickly as possible.
If you were to go to Province 1 first, would that make your trip more
complicated? Why or why not? Explain using formal notation, that is,
 formalize this new trip as a subgraph G2 = (V,E2) of the graph G and
compare it to G1

No it wouldn’t, in fact if we started from province 1 that would be the best of the
cases because as we saw previously, there is a Hamiltonian path from the
province 1 with six edges.

However, we are starting our travel from the province of Kathmandu, so the
travel could follow a path like 3 => 1 => 2 => 3 => 4 => 6 => 7 => 5. This is a
graph given by:

G2 = {{1,2,3,4,5,6,7},{{1,2},{1,3},{2,3},{3,4},{4,6},{5,7},{6,7}}}

We end with a different graph than G1 but it has the same length of 7 edges.

References:

Levin, O. (2019). Discrete mathematics: An open introduction (3 edition).

CreateSpace Independent Publishing
Platform. http://discrete.openmathbooks.org/pdfs/dmoi-tablet.pdf