U.T.B.

M 2011-2012
K. Des hinkel AG44

Graphs - Minimal Spanning Tree

Exer ise 1
Show that a tree with n ≥ 2 verti es has at least 2 verti es of degree 1.

Exer ise 2
Show that the following assertions are equivalent for a graph T :
 T is a tree.
 Any two verti es of T are linked by a unique path in T .
 T is a minimally onne ted, i.e. T is onne ted but T - e is dis onne ted for every edge e ∈ T
.
 T is maximally a y li , i.e. T ontains no y le but T + xy does, for any two non-adja ent
verti es x, y ∈ T .

Exer ise 3
Let (u, v) be a minimum-weight edge in a graph G. Show that (u, v) belongs to some minimum
spanning tree of G.

Exer ise 4
 Prove that you an res ale the weights by adding a positive onstant to all of them or by
multiplying them all by a positive onstant without ae ting the MST.
 Show that if a graph's edges all have distin t weights, the MST is unique.
 How would you nd a maximum spanning tree of an edge-weighted graph ?
 Given an MST for an edge-weighted graph G, suppose that an edge in MST that does not
dis onne t G is deleted. Des ribe how to nd an MST of the new graph in time proportional
to the number of edges.
 Given an MST for an edge-weighted graph G and a new edge e, des ribe how to nd an
MST of the new graph in time proportional to the number of verti es.

Exer ise 5
Let G = (V, E) a onne ted graph with positive edge osts that you may assume are all distin t.
Let T = (V ; E') be a spanning tree of G ; we dene the bottlene k edge of T to be the edge of T
with the greatest ost.
A spanning tree of G is a minimum-bottlene k spanning tree if there is no spanning tree with a
heaper bottlene k edge.
 Is every minimum-bottlene k spanning tree of G a minimum spanning tree of G ?
 Is every minimum spanning tree of G a minimum-bottlene k spanning tree of G ?

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Exer ise 6
Consider the undire ted network as shown in the gure and apply the Prim's algorithm to
solve the Minimal Spanning Tree problem. Then apply the Dijkstra's algorithm. What type of
problem do you solve with this algorithm ?

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Exer ise 7
Given a omplete graph with vertex set A, B, C, D, E, F and the following weights on the edges.

A B C D E F
A 0 6 9 11 5 9
B 6 0 3 6 5 2
C 9 3 0 0 4 4
D 11 6 0 0 5 6
E 5 5 4 5 0 8
F 9 2 4 6 8 0
 Determine a minimum spanning tree with Kruskal's algorithm.
 Determine a minimum spanning tree with Prim's algorithm starting in F .

Exer ise 8
Consider a set of 5 towns. The ost of onstra tion of a road between towns i and j is aij. Find
the minimum ost road network onne ting the towns with ea h other.

A B C D E
A 0 3 5 11 9
B 3 0 3 9 8
C 5 3 0 +∞ 10
D 11 9 +∞ 0 7
E 9 8 10 7 0
Prove the following propositions.
 Let e be a minimum weight edge in a graph G. Then (u, v) is ontained in a minimum weight
spanning tree of graph G.
 Let e be a maximum weight edge (of the y le) in a y le of a graph G = (V, E). There exists
a minimum weight spanning tree of graph G'= (V, E e) whi h is also a minimum weight
spanning tree of graph G.
 Let T be a minimum weight spanning tree of graph G = (V, E), and let V' be a subset of V
. Let T' be a sub-graph of T indu ed by V' and let G be a sub-graph of G' indu ed by V' .
If T' is onne ted then T' is a minimum weight spanning tree of graph G' .
 Given a graph G = (V, E), let V' is a stri t subset of V . Let e be a minimum weight edge
whi h onne ts V and V \ V ′ . There exists a minimum weight spanning tree whi h ontains
e.
 Let e be an arbitrary edge in a graph G. Is it always possible to onstru t a spanning tree
of G whi h ontains e ? And if we are given a set of edges ?
 In some problems we want that ertain pairs of verti es are dire tly onne ted with ea h
other. Modify the Prim's algorithm in order to solve the minimum spanning tree problem
with this additional onstraint.