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Hyper-Wiener and Harary indices of graphs with cut edges

Article in Utilitas Mathematica · March 2011

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 Hyper-Wiener and Harary indices of graphs
with cut edges ∗
Kexiang Xua and Nenad Trinajstićb
a
College of Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics,
Nanjing 210016, China
b
The Rugjer Bošković Institute, P. O. Box 180, Zagreb 10002, Croatia

Abstract The Wiener index is the sum of distances between all pairs
of vertices of a connected graph, whereas the hyper-Wiener index is another
distance-based molecular structure descriptor first introduced by Randić.
The Harary index is defined as the sum of reciprocals of distances between
all pairs of vertices of a connected graph. In this paper, we characterized
resp. the minimal graph with respect to hyper-Wiener index and the max-
imal one with respect to Harary index among all the connected graphs of
order n and with k cut edges.

1 Introduction
The Wiener index of a graph G, denoted by W (G), is one of the old-
est topological index, which was first introduced by Wiener [21] in 1947.
Mathematical properties and applications of the Wiener index are exten-
sively reported in the literature [5, 14, 17, 18, 19].
P The following formula of W (G) was first given by Hosoya [8]: W (G) =
u,v∈V (G) dG (u, v) where the summation goes over all pairs of vertices of
G and dG (u, v) denotes the distance of the two vertices u and v in graph G
(i.e., the number of edges in a shortest path connecting u and v of G).
In 1993, Randić [16] introduced the concept of ”hyper-Wiener index”.
For a graph G, the hyper-Wiener index of G is nowadays defined as [11]:
1 X 1 X
W W (G) = dG (u, v) + dG (u, v)2 .
2 2
u,v∈V (G) u,v∈V (G)

For two vertices

P u and v of graph G, let αG (u, v) = dG (u, v)(dG (u, v) + 1)
and AG (u) = αG (u, v) where this summation extends to all the vertices
v
∗ E-mail address: kexxu1221@126.com (K. Xu); trina@irb.hr (N. Trinajstić)

1
different from u. Thus we have
1 X
W W (G) = αG (u, v). (1.1)
2
u,v∈V (G)

Properties and uses of the hyper-Wiener index have been studied by several
authors [3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 20].
The Harary index of a (molecular) graph G, denoted by H(G), has been
introduced independently by Plavšić et al. [15] and by Ivanciuc et al. [10]
in 1993. It has been named as Harary index in honour of Professor Frank
Harary on the occasion of his 70th birthday. In contrast with Wiener index,
the Harary index is defined as follows:
X 1
H(G) =
dG (u, v)
u,v∈V (G)

with the summation going over all pairs of vertices of G. The distance of a
vertex x ∈ V (G), denoted by DG (x), is the sum of the distances between
x and all other vertices of G. Mathematical properties and applications of
the Harary index are reported in [2, 3, 4, 13, 23].
All graphs considered in this paper are finite and simple. Let G be a
graph with vertex set V (G) and edge set E(G). For a subset W of V (G), let
G − W be the subgraph of G obtained by deleting the vertices of W and the
edges incident with them. Similarly, for a subset E 0 of E(G), we denote by
G − E 0 the subgraph of G obtained by deleting the edges of E 0 . If W = {v}
and E 0 = {xy}, the subgraphs G − W and G − E 0 will be written as G − v
and G − xy for short, respectively. A vertex v ∈ V (G) is called cut vertex
if the number of components of G − v is more than that of components of
G. Similarly, a cut edge is an edge whose deletion increases the number of
components. The diameter of graph G will be always denoted by D(G). In
the following we always denote by Kn and Sn the complete graph and the
star graph with n vertices, respectively. For other undefined notations and
terminology from graph theory, the readers are referred to [1].
Let Gn,k be the set of connected graphs of order n and with k cut edges.
Denote by Knk the graph obtained by attaching k pendent vertices to one
vertex of complete graph Kn−k . Hua [9] showed that, in Gn,k , Knk has
the minimal Wiener index. Very recently, one of the present authors [22]
found that Knk has the maximal Merrifield-Simmons index and the minimal
Hosoya index among all the connected graphs of order n and with a given
clique number n − k. In this paper we show that, in Gn,k , the minimal
hyper-Wiener index and the maximal Harary index are all attained at Knk .
Moreover, the values of hyper-Wiener index and Harary index of Knk are
determined, respectively.

2
2 Some lemmas
We first list or prove some lemmas as basic but necessary preliminaries.
Firstly, the following lemma is obvious.
Lemma 2.1. Let G be a graph with u, v ∈ V (G) and uv ∈
/ E(G). Then we
have (1) W W (G + uv) < W W (G);(2) H(G + uv) > H(G).
Lemma 2.2. Let G be a (connected) graph with a cut vertex u such that
G1 and S
G2 are two components of G having u as the only common vertex
and G1 G2 = G. Let |V (Gi )| = ni for i = 1, 2. Then we have
(1) W W (G) = W W (G1 )+W W (G2 )+ 12 (n1 −1)AG2 (u)+ 12 (n2 −1)AG1 (u)
+ DG1 (u)DG2 (u);
P2 P P 1
(2) H(G) = i=1 H(Gi )+ x∈V (G1 )\{u} y∈V (G2 )\{u} dG (x,u)+d G (u,y)
.
1 2

Proof . (1) By Eq.

P (1.1) and the definitions Pof AG (u) and DG (u), we have
W W (G) = 12 x,y∈V (G1 ) αG1 (x, y) + 12 x,y∈V (G2 ) αG2 (x, y)
P
+ 12 x∈V (G1 ),y∈V (G2 ) αG (x, y)
= W W (GP 1 ) + W W (G2 )
+ 12 x∈V (G1 ),y∈V (G2 ) [αG1 (x, u) + αG2 (u, y) + 2dG1 (x, u)dG2 (u, y)]
= W W (GP 1 ) + W W (G
P2 )
+ 21 x∈V (G1 ) y∈V (G2 ) [αG1 (x, u) + αG2 (u, y) + 2dG1 (x, u)dG2 (u, y)]
1 1
= W W (G
P1 ) + W W P(G2 ) + 2 (n1 − 1)AG2 (u) + 2 (n2 − 1)AG2 (u)
+ x∈V (G1 ) y∈V (G2 ) dG1 (x, u)dG2 (u, y)
= W W (G1 )+W W (G2 )+ 12 (n1 −1)AG2 (u)+ 21 (n2 −1)AG1 (u)+DG1 (u)DG2 (u).
(2) By the definition of Harary index, we have
P2 P 1
P 1
H(G) = i=1 x,y∈V (Gi ) dG (x,y) + x∈V (G1 )\{u},y∈V (G2 )\{u} dG (x,y)
P2 P i
P 1
= i=1 H(Gi ) + x∈V (G1 )\{u} y∈V (G2 )\{u} dG (x,u)+d G2 (u,y)
.
1
Thus we finish the proof of the result in (2).
By induction on k, i.e., the number of components of G − v, we can
obtain the following corollary.
Corollary 2.1. Let G be a (connected) graph with a cut vertex u such that
G1 , G2 , · · · , Gk−1 and Gk are k components of G having u as the only com-
S
k
mon vertex and Gi = G. Let |V (Gi )| = ni for i = 1, 2, · · · , k. Then
i=1
P k Pk
(1) W W (G) = i=1 W W (Gi ) + 12 i=1 (ni − 1)[AG (u) − AGi (u)]
P Pk
+ DGi (u)DGj (u) where AG (u) = i=1 AGi (u);
1≤i<j≤k
Pk P P P 1
(2) H(G) = i=1 H(Gi )+ dG (x,u)+dG (u,y) .
i j
1≤i<j≤k x∈V (Gi )\{u} y∈V (Gj )\{u}

3
Lemma
S 2.3. Let w1 w2 ∈ E(G) be a cut edge in G, and G − w1 w2 =
G1 G2 with ni = |V (Gi )| for i = 1, 2. Suppose that wi ∈ V (Gi ) for
i = 1, 2, then
(1) W W (G) = W W (G1 )+W W (G2 )+ n21 AG2 (w2 )+ n22 AG1 (w1 )+n1 DG2 (w2 )
+ n2 DG1 (w1 ) + DG1 (w1 )DG2 (w2 ) + n1 n2 + 2;
P 1
P
(2) H(G) = H(G1 )+H(G2 )+1+ x∈V (G1 ) dG (x,w 1 )+1
+ y∈V (G2 ) dG (w21,y)+1
P 1
+ x∈V (G1 −w1 ),y∈V (G2 −w2 ) dG (x,w1 )+1+d G2 (w2 ,v)
.
1
P
Proof . (1) Set A = u∈V (G1 −w1 ),v∈V (G2 −w2 ) αG (u, v), by Eq. (1.1) and
the definitions ofPAG (u) and DG (u), then P we have
W W (G) = 12 u,v∈V (G1 ) αG (u, v) + 21 u,v∈V (G2 ) αG (u, v)
P
+ 12 u∈V (G1 ),v∈V (G2 ) αG (u, v)
P
= W W (G1 ) + W W (G2 ) + 12 αG (w1 , w2 ) + 12 u∈V (G1 ) αG (u, w2 )
P P
+ 21 v∈V (G2 ) αG (w1 , v) + 12 u∈V (G1 −w1 ),v∈V (G2 −w2 ) αG (u, v)
P
= W W (G1 ) + W W (G2 ) + 1 + 21 u∈V (G1 ) (dG1 (u, w1 ) + 1)(dG1 (u, w1 ) + 2)
P
+ 21 v∈V (G2 ) (dG2 (w2 , v) + 1)(dG2 (w2 , v) + 2) + 12 A
= W W (G1 ) + W W (G2 ) + 1 + 12 AG1 (w1 ) + DG1 (w1 ) + n1 + 21 AG2 (w2 )
+PDG2 (w2 ) + n2 + 12 A,
A = u∈V (G1 −w1 ),v∈V (G2 −w2 ) [dG1 (u, w1 ) + 1 + dG2 (w2 , v)][dG1 (u, w1 ) + 2
P+ dG2 (w2 , v)]P
= u∈V (G1 −w1 ) v∈V (G2 −w2 ) [αG1 (u, w1 ) + αG2 (w2 , v)]
P P
+ u∈V (G1 −w1 ) v∈V (G2 −w2 ) [dG1 (u, w1 )(dG2 (w2 , v) + 1)]
P P
+ u∈V (G1 −w1 ) v∈V (G2 −w2 ) [dG2 (w2 , v)(dG1 (u, w1 ) + 1)]
P P
+ u∈V (G1 −w1 ) v∈V (G2 −w2 ) [dG1 (u, w1 ) + dG2 (w2 , v) + 2]
= (n2 − 1)AG1 (w1 ) + (n1 − 1)AG2 (w2 ) + DG1 (w1 )(DG2 (w2 ) + n2 − 1)
+ DG2 (w2 )(DG1 (w1 ) + n1 − 1) + (n2 − 1)DG1 (w1 ) + (n1 − 1)DG2 (w2 )
+ 2(n1 − 1)(n2 − 1),
thus,
W W (G) = W W (G1 ) + W W (G2 ) + n21 AG2 (w2 ) + n22 AG1 (w1 ) + n1 DG2 (w2 )
+ n2 DG1 (w1 ) + DG1 (w1 )DG2 (w2 ) + n1 n2 + 2;
(2) By
P the definition of Harary
P index, we have P
H(G) = x,y∈V (G1 ) dG 1(x,y) + x,y∈V (G2 ) dG 1(x,y) + x∈V (G1 ),y∈V (G2 ) dG (x,y) 1
1 P 2 P
1
= H(G1 ) + H(G2 ) + 1 + x∈V (G1 ) dG (x,w 2)
+ y∈V (G2 ) dG (w1 1 ,y)
P 1
+ x∈V (G1 −w1 ),y∈V (G2 −w2 ) dG (x,w1 )+1+dG (w2 ,y)
P 1
1
2 P
= H(G1 ) + H(G2 ) + 1 + x∈V (G1 ) dG (x,w 1 )+1
+ y∈V (G2 ) dG (w21,y)+1
P 1
+ x∈V (G1 −w1 ),y∈V (G2 −w2 ) dG (x,w1 )+1+d G2 (w2 ,y)
.
1
Thus we complete the proof of this lemma.
Lemma
S 2.4. Let w1 w2 ∈ E(G) be a cut edge in G, and G − w1 w2 =
G1 G2 with ni = |V (Gi )| ≥ 2 for i = 1, 2. Suppose that wi ∈ V (Gi ) for

4
i = 1, 2. Assume that G0 is a graph obtained from G by identifying vertex
w1 with w2 ( the new vertex is labeled as w ) and attaching at w a pendent
vertex w0 . Then (1) W W (G) > W W (G0 ); (2) H(G) < H(G0 ).
Proof . Set W W (K1 ) = H(K1 ) = 0 and G0 − w0 = G1 • G2 .
From Lemma 2.3 (1) and Lemma 2.2 (1), we have
P2
W W (G) = i=1 W W (Gi ) + n21 AG2 (w2 ) + n22 AG1 (w1 ) + n1 DG2 (w2 )
+ n2 DG1 (w1 ) + DG1 (w1 )DG2 (w2 ) + n1 n2 + 2,
W W (G0 ) = W W (G1 •G2 )+W W (K1 )+ (n1 +n2 2 −1) AK1 (w0 )+ 12 AG1 •G2 (w)
+(n1 +n2 −1)DK1 (w0 )+DG1 •G2 (w)+DG1 •G2 (w)DK1 (w0 )+n1 +n2 −1+2
= W W (G1 • G2 ) + 12 [AG1 (w) + AG2 (w)] + DG2 (w) + DG1 (w) + n1 + n2 + 1
= W W (G1 )+W W (G2 )+ 12 (n1 −1)AG2 (w)+ 21 (n2 −1)AG1 (w)+DG1 (w)DG2 (w)
+ 12 [AG1 (w) + AG2 (w)] + DG2 (w) + DG1 (w) + n1 + n2 + 1
= W W (G1 )+W W (G2 )+ n21 AG2 (w)+ n22 AG1 (w)+DG1 (w)DG2 (w)+DG1 (w)
+ DG2 (w) + n1 + n2 + 1, and
W W (G) − W W (G0 )
= (n2 − 1)DG1 (w) + (n1 − 1)DG2 (w) + (n1 − 1)(n2 − 1) > 0;
Similarly, from Lemma 2.3 (2) and Lemma 2.2 (2), we have
P2 P 1
P
H(G) = i=1 H(Gi )+1+ x∈V (G1 ) dG (x,w 1 )+1
+ y∈V (G2 ) dG (w12 ,y)+1
P 1
1
2
+ x∈V (G1 −w1 ),y∈V (G2 −w2 ) dG (x,w1 )+1+d G2 (w2 ,v)
,
P1 1
H(G0 ) = H(G1 • G2 ) + H(K1 ) + 1 + x∈V (G1 •G2 ) d 0 (x,w 0)
P 1
PG 1
= H(G1 )+H(G2 )+ x∈V (G1 ),y∈V (G2 ) dG •G (x,y) +1+ x∈V (G1 •G2 ) d 0 (x,w 0)
P 1
1
2 P 1
G

= H(G1 ) + H(G2 ) + 1 + x∈V (G1 ) dG (x,w)+1 + y∈V (G2 ) dG (w,y)+1

P 1
1 2
+ x∈V (G1 ),y∈V (G2 ) dG (x,w)+d G2 (w,y)
, and
1
0
H(G P) − H(G) 1
= x∈V (G1 ),y∈V (G2 ) [ dG (x,w)+dG2 (w,y)
− dG (x,w)+d1G (w,y)+1 ] > 0.
1 1 2
Therefore the proof for this lemma is completed.
Let H1 , H2 be two connected graphs. Let H1 vH2 be a new graph with
V (H1 ) ∪ V (H2 ) as its vertex set and E(H1 ) ∪ E(H2 ) as its edge set with
V (H1 ) ∩ V (H2 ) = {v}. By repeating Lemma 2.4, it is not difficult to obtain
the following result.
Corollary 2.2. Let H be a graph and Tl a tree of order l with V (H) ∩
V (Tl ) = {v}. Then (1) W W (HvTl ) ≥ W W (HvSl ); (2) H(HvTl ) ≤
H(HvSl ). Where v is identified with the center of the star Sl in HvSl .
Moreover, any one of the above two equalities holds if and only if Tl ∼
= Sl .
Lemma 2.5. Let H, X and Y be three connected graphs disjoint in pair.
Suppose that u, v are two vertices of H, v0 is a vertex of X, u0 is a vertex
of Y . Let G be the graph obtained from H, X and Y by identifying v with v0
and u with u0 , respectively. Let G∗1 be the graph obtained from H, X and Y

5
by identifying three vertices v, v0 and u0 , and let G∗2 be the graph obtained
from H, X and Y by identifying three vertices u, v0 and u0 . Then we have
(1) W W (G∗1 ) < W W (G) or W W (G∗2 ) < W W (G); (2)H(G∗1 ) > H(G) or
H(G∗2 ) > H(G).
Proof . Set Ai = W W (G) − W W (G∗i ) for i = 1, 2. By the definition of
hyper-Wiener index
P and Eq. (1.1), we have P
W W (G) = 12 x,y∈V (X) αX (x, y) + 21 x,y∈V (Y ) αY (x, y)
P P
+ 12 x,y∈V (H) αH (x, y) + 12 x∈V (X−v),y∈V (Y −u) αG (x, y)
P P
+ 21 x∈V (H),y∈V (Y −u) αG (x, y) + 12 x∈V (H),y∈V (X−v) αG (x, y).
Therefore,
P we have
A1 = 12 x∈V (X−v),y∈V (Y −u) [αG (x, y) − αG∗1 (x, y)]
P
+ 12 x∈V (H),y∈V (Y −u) [αG (x, y) − αG∗1 (x, y)]
P
> 12 x∈V (H),y∈V (Y −u) [αG (x, y) − αG∗1 (x, y)]
P
> 12 x∈V (H−u−v) [αH (x, u) − αH (x, v)], (2.1)
1
P
A2 = 2 x∈V (X−v),y∈V (Y −u) [αG (x, y) − αG1 (x, y)] ∗
P
+ 12 x∈V (X−v),y∈V (H) [αG (x, y) − αG∗1 (x, y)]
P
> 12 x∈V (X−v),y∈V (H) [αG (x, y) − αG∗1 (x, y)]
P
> 12 x∈V (H−u−v) [αH (x, v) − αH (x, u)]. (2.2)
Note that the last inequality in (2.1) holds because of the fact that
αG (x, y) − αG∗1 (x, y) = (dH (x, u) + dG (u, y))(dH (x, u) + dG (u, y) + 1)
− (dH (x, v) + dG∗1 (u, y))(dH (x, u) + dG∗1 (v, y) + 1)
= (dH (x, u) + D)(dH (x, u) + D + 1) − (dH (x, v) + D)(dH (x, v) + D + 1)
(since dG (u, y) = dG∗1 (u, y), we denote it by D)
= dH (x, u)2 − dH (x, v)2 + (2D + 1)(dH (x, u) − dH (x, v))
> dH (x, u)2 − dH (x, v)2 + (dH (x, u) − dH (x, v)) = αH (x, u) − αH (x, v).
And the last inequality in (2.2)Pholds by a similar reasoning.
If A1 ≤ 0, by (2.1), we have 12 x∈V (H−u−v) [αH (x, u) − αH (x, v)] < 0.
By (2.2), we have A2 > 0, completing the proof of the result in (1).
∗
For convenience,
P we set Bi = H(G P i ) − H(G)1 for i = P1, 2. Then we have
1 1
H(G) = x,y∈V (X) dG (x,y) + x,y∈V (Y ) dG (x,y) + x,y∈V (H) dG (x,y)
P 1
P 1
+ x∈V (X−v),y∈V (Y −u) dG (x,y) + x∈V (H),y∈V (Y −u) dG (x,y)
P 1
+ x∈V (H),y∈V (X−v) dG (x,y) .
P
B1 = x∈V (X−v),y∈V (Y −u) [ d ∗ 1(x,y) − dG (x,y) 1
]
G
P 1
1 1
+ x∈V (H),y∈V (Y −u) [ d ∗ (x,y) − dG (x,y) ]
G
P 1
1 1
> x∈V (H),y∈V (Y −u) [ dH (x,v)+d Y (u,y)
− dH (x,u)+dY (u,y)
]
P dH (x,u)−dH (x,v)
= x∈V (H−u−v) (dH (x,v)+dY (u,y))(dH (x,u)+dY (u,y))
P dH (x,u)−dH (x,v)
> x∈V (H−u−v) (D(H)+D(Y ))(D(H)+D(Y ))
P
> x∈V (H−u−v) dH (x,u)−d 4D(G)
H (x,v)
2 , (2.3)

6
 P 1 1
B2 = x∈V (X−v),y∈V (Y −u) [ dG∗ (x,y)
dG (x,y) ] −
P 2
+ x∈V (X−v),y∈V (H) [ d ∗ 1(x,y) − dG (x,y)
1
]
G
P 2
1 1
> x∈V (X−v),y∈V (H) [ dX (x,v)+dH (u,y) − dX (x,v)+d H (v,y)
]
P dH (y,v)−dH (y,u)
= y∈V (H−u−v) (dX (x,v)+dH (u,y))(dX (x,v)+dH (v,y))
P dH (x,v)−dH (x,u)
> x∈V (H−u−v) (D(X)+D(H))(D(X)+D(H))
P
> x∈V (H−u−v) dH (x,v)−d
4D(G)2
H (x,u)
. (2.4)
P dH (x,u)−dH (x,v)
If B1 ≤ 0, by (2.3), we have x∈V (H−u−v) < 0. By
4D(G)2
(2.4), we have B2 > 0. Thus the result in (2) follows immediately.
Here we define a function f (x1 , x2 , · · · , xk ) = x21 + x22 + · · · + x2k where
x1 , x2 , · · · , xk are positive integers.
Lemma 2.6. Suppose that f (x1 , x2 , · · · , xk ) is a function defined as above
Pk
and i=1 xi = n as a fixed positive integer. If xi ≥ xj ≥ 1, 1 ≤ i, j ≤ n and
i 6= j, then f (x1 , · · · , xi +1, · · · , xj −1, · · · , xn ) > f (x1 , · · · , xi , · · · , xj , · · · , xn ).
Proof . By the definition of the function f (x1 , x2 , · · · , xk ), we have
f (x1 , · · · , xi + 1, · · · , xj − 1, · · · , xn ) − f (x1 , · · · , xi , · · · , xj , · · · , xn )
= (xi + 1)2 + (xj − 1)2 − x2i − x2j = 2(xi − xj ) + 2 > 0,
which finishes the proof of this lemma.
Corollary 2.3. Suppose that f (x1 , x2 , · · · , xk ) is a function defined as
Pk
above and i=1 xi = n, x1 ≥ x2 ≥ · · · ≥ xk . Then f (x1 , x2 , · · · , xk )
reaches its maximum value at x1 = n − k + 1 and x2 = x3 = · · · = xk = 1.

3 Main results
Now we consider the extremal graphs from Gn,k with respect to hyper-
Wiener index and Harary index. First we need some definitions below.
For a tree Tl of order l and with vertex set V (Tl ) = {v1 , v2 , · · · , vl }, a
new graph Tn (n1 , n2 , · · · , nl ) is obtained from Tl by replacing the vertex
vi by the complete graph Kni for i = 1, 2, · · · , l. Let Sk+1 be a star with
vertex set {v0 , v1 , · · · , vk } and v0 as its center. In particular, the graph
Pk
Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 , · · · , nk ) with i=0 ni = n is obtained from Sk+1 by replacing
the vertex vi by Kni for i = 0, 1, 2, · · · , k. Denote by Snk the set of all the
graphs of the form Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 , · · · , nk ). Clearly, Snk ⊆ Gn,k .
By definitions and Lemma 2.2, it is not difficult to obtain: W W (Kn ) =
2 2 2
H(Kn ) = n 2−n ; W W (Kn1 ) = n +3n−8 2 , H(Kn1 ) = n −2n+2
2 .
Lemma 3.1. Suppose that Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 , · · · , nk ) is defined as above. Then
2
(1) W W (Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 , · · · , nk )) = 5n2 + k −3k−6nk−n
2 − (4n − k)n0 − 21 n20 −

7
9
Pk
2 n2i ;
i=1
(2) H(Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 , · · · , nk )) = 18 n2 − 17n
12 +
k+2n+31
24 k + n+k+17
12
7 2
n0 + 24 n0 +
3
Pk 2
8 n
i=1 i .
Proof . Set B = W W (Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 , · · · , nk )) and C = H(Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 , · · · , nk )).
In the following we always assume that the cut vertex in V (Kn0 ) of Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 ,
· · · , nk ) is labeled as u. By definition, AKn0 (u) = 2n0 −2, AKn1 (u) = 6ni −4
Pk Pk i

for i = 1, 2, · · · , k. Set B0 = DKn0 (u) i=1 DKn1 (u)+ i=1 DKn1 (u)[DKn0 (u)+
Pk i i

t=1 DKn 1 (u) − DK 1 (u)]. So, by Corollary 2.1 (1), we get:

n
t
Pk
i
Pk
B = W W (Kn0 ) + i=1 W W (Kn1i ) + 12 (n0 − 1) i=1 AKn1 (u)
Pk Pk i

+ 12 i=1 ni [AKn0 (u) + t=1 AKn1 (u) − AKn1 (u)] + 12 B0

t i
n2 −n Pk
= 0 2 0 + 12 i=1 (n2i + 3ni − 8) + 12 (n0 − 1)(6n − 6n0 − 4k)
Pk
+ 21 i=1 ni (6n − 6ni − 4n0 − 4k + 2) + 12 B0
Pk
= 3n2 − 2n(k + n0 ) − n2 − 2k − 12 n20 − 52 i=1 n2i + 12 B0 , and
Pk
B0 = (n0 − 1) i=1 (2ni − 1)
Pk Pk
+ i=1 (2ni − 1)[n0 − 1 + t=1 (2nt − 1) − (2ni − 1)]
Pk
= 2(n − n0 )(2n − k) − k(2n − k − 1) − 4 i=1 n2i , thus
2 Pk
B = 5n2 + k −3k−6nk−n2 − (4n − k)n0 − 12 n20 − 92 i=1 n2i .
Pk Pk P 1
Set C0 = i=1 j6=i,j=1 1 ),y∈V (K 1 ) d
x∈V (Kn n 1 (x,u)+d 1 (u,y)
. By
i j Kn Kn
i j
Corollary 2.1 (2), we have
n2 −n Pk n2 −2n +2 Pk P P 1
C = 0 2 0 + i=1 i 2 i + i=1 x∈V (Kn ) y∈V (K 1
0 ni ) dKn (x,u)+dK 1 (u,y)
0 ni

+ 21 C0
Pk Pk
= 2 i=0 n2i − n20 +k −(n−n0 )+ i=1 (1+ n02−1 + (n0 −1)(n
1
3
i −1)
)+ 12 C0
1 2 1
P k 2 n0 +8 nn0 4(n−n0 ) 1
= 6 n0 + 2 i=1 ni + 6 k + 3 − 3 + 2 C0 , and,
Pk Pk 1 ni −1 nj −1 (ni −1)(nj −1)
C0 = i=1 j6=i,j=1 [ 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 ]
k2 −k 1
Pk Pk
= 2 + 3 i=1 [(k − 1)(ni − 1) + t=1 (nt − 1) − (ni − 1)]
Pk Pk
+ i=1 ni4−1 [ t=1 (nt − 1) − (ni − 1)]
2 Pk
= k 2−k + 3n−3n12 0 +5k−5
(n − n0 − k) − 14 i=1 n2i + 14 (n − n0 ), thus,
Pk
C = 16 n20 + 38 i=1 n2i + n06+8 k − 29 1 2
24 (n − n0 ) + 4 (k − k) + 3
nn0
3n−3n0 +5k−5
+ 24 (n − n0 − k)
Pk
= 81 n2 − 17n
12 + k+2n+31
24 k + n+k+17
12
7 2
n0 + 24 n0 + 38 i=1 n2i .
Thus the proof of this lemma is completed.
Theorem 3.1. For any graph G ∈ Gn,k , we have
(1) W W (G) ≥ 52 n2 + 13
2 n + 2k 2 − 8k − 16nk;
n2 nk k2 +k
(2) H(G) ≤ 2 − 2 + 4 .

8
Moreover, any one of the above two equalities holds if and only if G ∼
= Knk .
Proof . We only prove (1), and the proof for (2) is very similar and is
omitted here.
Suppose that G0 ∈ Gn,k with the hyper-Wiener index as small as possi-
ble. Let E1 = {e1 , e2 , · · · , ek } be the set of cut edges of G0 . By Lemma 2.1
(1), we immediately obtain the following claim.
Claim 0. Each component of G0 − E1 is a clique.
When k = 0, by Claim 0, we have G0 ∼ = Kn , this theorem follows
immediately. So in the following we assume that k ≥ 1. From Claim 0, we
denote by Ka0 , Ka1 , Ka2 , · · · , Kak the components of G0 − E1 .
Assume that Vai = {v ∈ Kai : v is an end vertex of the cut edges of G0 }.
To obtain the main result, we need to prove the following claims.
Claim 1. |Vai | = 1 for 0 ≤ i ≤ k.
Proof of Claim 1. Otherwise, there exists at least i ∈ {0, 1, · · · , k}
such that |Vai | > 1. Let u, u0 ∈ Vai . Suppose that N (u) − N (u0 ) =
{x1 , x2 , · · · , xs } and N (u0 ) − N (u) = {y1 , y2 , · · · , yt }. Then s, t ≥ 1 by
u, u0 ∈ Vai . Assume that G∗1 = G−{ux1 , ux2 , · · · , uxs }+{u0 x1 , u0 x2 , · · · , u0 xs }
and G∗2 = G−{u0 y1 , u0 y2 , · · · , u0 yt }+{uy1 , uy2 , · · · , uyt }. Note that G∗1 , G∗2 ∈
Gn,k . But form Lemma 2.5 (1), we have W W (G0 ) > W W (G∗1 ), or W W (G0 ) >
W W (G∗2 ). This is a contradiction to the choice of G0 , ending the proof of
Claim 1.
Claim 2. G0 ∈ Snk .
Proof of Claim 2. By Claim 1, we find that G0 must be of the form
Tn (n1 , n2 , · · · , nk+1 ) where T is a tree of order k + 1. When T ∼ = Sk+1 ,
Claim 2 follows immediately. If not, by repeatedly using Lemma 2.5 (1),
considering Lemma 2.1 (1), G0 must be of the form Kn−k vTk+1 . In view of
Corollary 2.2 (1), we find that G0 is Kn−k vSk+1 = Knk , which, obviously,
belongs to Snk , finishing the proof of this claim.
By Claim 2, G0 ∼ = Sn (n0 ; n1 , n2 , · · · , nk ). Here we assume that n1 ≥
n2 ≥ · · · ≥ nk .
k−1
z }| {
∼
Claim 3. G0 = Sn (n0 ; n − n0 − k + 1, 1, · · · , 1).
P k
Proof of Claim 3. Note that ni = n − n0 . Combining Corollary
i=1
2.3 and Lemma 3.1 (1) , Claim 3 holds clearly.
Claim 4. n0 = n − k.
Proof of Claim 4. By Claim 3 and Lemma 3.1 (1), we have
2 2
W W (G0 ) = 5n2 + 9n +10k −12nk−12k+17n
2 − [5n20 + (2n − k − 2)n0 ].
Therefore, this claim follows because of the fact that the function g(x) =
5x2 + (2n − k − 2)x is strictly increasing when 1 ≤ x ≤ n − k.
Combining Claims 1-4, we find that G0 ∼ = Knk . In Lemma 3.1 (1), let
n0 = n − k and n1 = n2 = · · · = nk = 1, we have

9
 2 2
W W (Knk ) = 5n2 + 9n +10k −12nk−12k+17n
2 − [5n20 + (2n − k − 2)n0 ]
5 2 13 2
= 2 n + 2 n + 2k − 8k − 16nk,
completing the proof of (1).
But, to our disappointment, it seems difficult to characterize the graphs
from Gn,k with maximal hyper-Wiener index, or with minimal Harary index.
Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely thank the anonymous referee for his/her valu-
able comments, which have considerably improved the presentation of this
paper. KX (Kexiang Xu) was supported by NUAA Research Founding,
No. NS2010205. NT (Nenad Trinajstić) was supported by the Ministry of
Science, Education and Sports of Croatia via Grant No. 098-1770495-2919.

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