In graph theory, a cycle in a graph is a non-empty trail in which the only repeated vertices are the first and last vertices. A directed cycle in a directed graph is a non-empty directed trail in which the only repeated vertices are the first and last vertices.
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a bipartite graph is a graph whose vertices can be divided into two disjoint and independent sets and such that every edge connects a vertex in to one in . Vertex sets and are usually called the parts of the graph. Equivalently, a bipartite graph is a graph that does not contain any odd-length cycles.
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a Hamiltonian path is a path in an undirected or directed graph that visits each vertex exactly once. A Hamiltonian cycle is a Hamiltonian path that is a cycle. Determining whether such paths and cycles exist in graphs is the Hamiltonian path problem, which is NP-complete.
This is a glossary of graph theory terms. Graph theory is the study of graphs, systems of nodes or vertices connected in pairs by edges.
In graph theory, an Eulerian trail is a trail in a finite graph that visits every edge exactly once. Similarly, an Eulerian circuit or Eulerian cycle is an Eulerian trail that starts and ends on the same vertex. They were first discussed by Leonhard Euler while solving the famous Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem in 1736. The problem can be stated mathematically like this:
In the mathematical discipline of graph theory, the line graph of an undirected graph G is another graph L(G) that represents the adjacencies between edges of G. L(G) is constructed in the following way: for each edge in G, make a vertex in L(G); for every two edges in G that have a vertex in common, make an edge between their corresponding vertices in L(G).
In graph theory, an edge coloring of a graph is an assignment of "colors" to the edges of the graph so that no two incident edges have the same color. For example, the figure to the right shows an edge coloring of a graph by the colors red, blue, and green. Edge colorings are one of several different types of graph coloring. The edge-coloring problem asks whether it is possible to color the edges of a given graph using at most k different colors, for a given value of k, or with the fewest possible colors. The minimum required number of colors for the edges of a given graph is called the chromatic index of the graph. For example, the edges of the graph in the illustration can be colored by three colors but cannot be colored by two colors, so the graph shown has chromatic index three.
In geometry, a cross-polytope, hyperoctahedron, orthoplex, or cocube is a regular, convex polytope that exists in n-dimensions. A 2-dimensional cross-polytope is a square, a 3-dimensional cross-polytope is a regular octahedron, and a 4-dimensional cross-polytope is a 16-cell. Its facets are simplexes of the previous dimension, while the cross-polytope's vertex figure is another cross-polytope from the previous dimension.
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a cubic graph is a graph in which all vertices have degree three. In other words, a cubic graph is a 3-regular graph. Cubic graphs are also called trivalent graphs.
In graph theory, the degree of a vertex of a graph is the number of edges that are incident to the vertex, and in a multigraph, loops are counted twice. The degree of a vertex is denoted or . The maximum degree of a graph , denoted by , and the minimum degree of a graph, denoted by , are the maximum and minimum degree of its vertices. In the multigraph on the right, the maximum degree is 5 and the minimum degree is 0.
In the mathematical field of graph theory, the Desargues graph is a distance-transitive cubic graph with 20 vertices and 30 edges. It is named after Girard Desargues, arises from several different combinatorial constructions, has a high level of symmetry, is the only known non-planar cubic partial cube, and has been applied in chemical databases.
In graph theory, a factor of a graph G is a spanning subgraph, i.e., a subgraph that has the same vertex set as G. A k-factor of a graph is a spanning k-regular subgraph, and a k-factorization partitions the edges of the graph into disjoint k-factors. A graph G is said to be k-factorable if it admits a k-factorization. In particular, a 1-factor is a perfect matching, and a 1-factorization of a k-regular graph is an edge coloring with k colors. A 2-factor is a collection of cycles that spans all vertices of the graph.
In graph theory, a circulant graph is an undirected graph acted on by a cyclic group of symmetries which takes any vertex to any other vertex. It is sometimes called a cyclic graph, but this term has other meanings.
Some of the finite structures considered in graph theory have names, sometimes inspired by the graph's topology, and sometimes after their discoverer. A famous example is the Petersen graph, a concrete graph on 10 vertices that appears as a minimal example or counterexample in many different contexts.
In graph theory, a rook's graph is a graph that represents all legal moves of the rook chess piece on a chessboard. Each vertex of a rook's graph represents a square on a chessboard, and each edge represents a legal move from one square to another. The same graphs can be defined mathematically as the Cartesian products of two complete graphs or as the line graphs of complete bipartite graphs.
A thrackle is an embedding of a graph in the plane, such that each edge is a Jordan arc and every pair of edges meet exactly once. Edges may either meet at a common endpoint, or, if they have no endpoints in common, at a point in their interiors. In the latter case, the crossing must be transverse.
In graph theory, a branch of mathematics, a skew-symmetric graph is a directed graph that is isomorphic to its own transpose graph, the graph formed by reversing all of its edges, under an isomorphism that is an involution without any fixed points. Skew-symmetric graphs are identical to the double covering graphs of bidirected graphs.
In the mathematical field of graph theory, the odd graphsOn are a family of symmetric graphs with high odd girth, defined from certain set systems. They include and generalize the Petersen graph.
In the mathematical study of graph theory, a pancyclic graph is a directed graph or undirected graph that contains cycles of all possible lengths from three up to the number of vertices in the graph. Pancyclic graphs are a generalization of Hamiltonian graphs, graphs which have a cycle of the maximum possible length.
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a prism graph is a graph that has one of the prisms as its skeleton.
