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Elements of Graph Theory _ Mathematics for the Liberal Arts Corequisite

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Elements of Graph Theory _ Mathematics for the Liberal Arts Corequisite

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jannas
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Mathematics for the Liberal Arts Corequisite

Module 4: Graph Theory

Elements of Graph Theory


LEARNING OUTCOMES

Identify the vertices, edges, and loops of a graph

Identify the degree of a vertex

Identify and draw both a path and a circuit through a


graph

Determine whether a graph is connected or


disconnected

In the modern world, planning efficient routes is essential for business


and industry, with applications as varied as product distribution, laying
new fiber optic lines for broadband internet, and suggesting new friends
within social network websites like Facebook.

This field of mathematics started nearly 300 years ago as a look into a
mathematical puzzle (we’ll look at it in a bit). The field has exploded in
importance in the last century, both because of the growing complexity
of business in a global economy and because of the computational
power that computers have provided us.

MATHEMATICAL VOCABULARY

In mathematics, familiar words are often used in ways that are


not familiar to you. That’s because, as a new branch of mathe-
matics is developed, a new vocabulary is built to describe it
using the vernacular of the place and time in which it was de-
veloped. Graph theory is a relatively young branch of mathe-
matics so it borrowed from words that are used commonly in
our language.

A good way to make new mathematical usages familiar is by


using flashcards. Write the word on one side and the definition
on the other. Work your way through the pile once by looking
at the definition, trying to give the proper word. Then, shuffle
the cards and work through them again by looking at the word
and trying to give the proper definition.

After working through the flashcards to memorize the new us-


ages, build long-term memory by using the words in context.
Read the text sections and try the examples and Try It prob-
lems, being careful to use the words in context. If possible,
look for opportunities to use the vocabulary aloud in class.

This section contains a large number of new word usages.


Don’t gloss over these words and their mathematical
definitions!

Drawing Graphs

EXAMPLE

Here is a portion of a housing development from Missoula,


Montana. As part of her job, the development’s lawn inspector
has to walk down every street in the development making sure
homeowners’ landscaping conforms to the community
requirements.
Naturally, she wants to minimize the amount of walking she has
to do. Is it possible for her to walk down every street in this de-
velopment without having to do any backtracking? While you
might be able to answer that question just by looking at the
picture for a while, it would be ideal to be able to answer the
question for any picture regardless of its complexity.

To do that, we first need to simplify the picture into a form that


is easier to work with. We can do that by drawing a simple line
for each street. Where streets intersect, we will place a dot.

This type of simplified picture is called a graph.


GRAPHS, VERTICES, AND EDGES

A graph consists of a set of dots, called vertices, and a set of edges


connecting pairs of vertices.

While we drew our original graph to correspond with the picture we had,
there is nothing particularly important about the layout when we analyze
a graph. Both of the graphs below are equivalent to the one drawn
above.

You probably already noticed that we are using the term graph differ-
ently than you may have used the term in the past to describe the graph
of a mathematical function.

Watch the video below to get another perspective of drawing a street


network graph.
Drawing a street network graph

EXAMPLE

Back in the 18th century in the Prussian city of Königsberg, a


river ran through the city and seven bridges crossed the forks
of the river. The river and the bridges are highlighted in the pic-
ture below.[1]

As a weekend amusement, townsfolk would see if they could


find a route that would take them across every bridge once
and return them to where they started.

In the following video we present another view of the Königsberg bridge


problem.
Drawing a graph for bridges

Leonard Euler (pronounced OY-lur), one of the most prolific mathemati-


cians ever, looked at this problem in 1735, laying the foundation for graph
theory as a field in mathematics. To analyze this problem, Euler intro-
duced edges representing the bridges:

Since the size of each land mass it is not relevant to the question of
bridge crossings, each can be shrunk down to a vertex representing the
location:
Notice that in this graph there are two edges connecting the north bank
and island, corresponding to the two bridges in the original drawing.
Depending upon the interpretation of edges and vertices appropriate to
a scenario, it is entirely possible and reasonable to have more than one
edge connecting two vertices.

While we haven’t answered the actual question yet of whether or not


there is a route which crosses every bridge once and returns to the start-
ing location, the graph provides the foundation for exploring this
question.

Definitions

While we loosely defined some terminology earlier, we now will try to be


more specific.

VERTEX

A vertex is a dot in the graph that could represent an intersection of


streets, a land mass, or a general location, like “work” or “school”.
Vertices are often connected by edges. Note that vertices only occur
when a dot is explicitly placed, not whenever two edges cross.
Imagine a freeway overpass—the freeway and side street cross, but it
is not possible to change from the side street to the freeway at that
point, so there is no intersection and no vertex would be placed.
EDGES

Edges connect pairs of vertices. An edge can represent a physical


connection between locations, like a street, or simply that a route
connecting the two locations exists, like an airline flight.

LOOP

A loop is a special type of edge that connects a vertex to itself. Loops


are not used much in street network graphs.

DEGREE OF A VERTEX

The degree of a vertex is the number of edges meeting at that vertex.


It is possible for a vertex to have a degree of zero or larger.

Degree
Degree 1 Degree 2 Degree 3 Degree 4
0
PATH

A path is a sequence of vertices using the edges. Usually we are in-


terested in a path between two vertices. For example, a path from
vertex A to vertex M is shown below. It is one of many possible paths
in this graph.

CIRCUIT

A circuit is a path that begins and ends at the same vertex. A circuit
starting and ending at vertex A is shown below.

CONNECTED

A graph is connected if there is a path from any vertex to any other


vertex. Every graph drawn so far has been connected. The graph be-
low is disconnected; there is no way to get from the vertices on the
left to the vertices on the right.
WEIGHTS

Depending upon the problem being solved, sometimes weights are


assigned to the edges. The weights could represent the distance be-
tween two locations, the travel time, or the travel cost. It is important
to note that the distance between vertices in a graph does not neces-
sarily correspond to the weight of an edge.

TRY IT

1.The graph below shows 5 cities. The weights on the edges


represent the airfare for a one -way flight between the cities.

a. How many vertices and edges does the graph have?


b. Is the graph connected?
c. What is the degree of the vertex representing LA?
d. If you fly from Seattle to Dallas to Atlanta, is that a path
or a circuit?
e. If you fly from LA to Chicago to Dallas to LA, is that a
path or a circuit.
Show Solution
TRY IT

Is this graph connected?


Connected
Not Connected

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E J

D I

C H

B G

A F

What is the degree of vertex C

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şă
1. Bogdan Giu c .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Konigsberg_bridges.png ↵
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