1.3.

VERTEX DEGREES

11

1.3

Vertex Degrees

Vertex Degree for Undirected Graphs: Let G be an undirected

graph and x V (G). The degree dG (x) of x in G: the number of edges incident with x, each loop counting as two edges. For the graph G shown in Figure 1.9 (a), for instance, dG (x1 ) = dG (x3 ) = 4,
e2 x1 e7 e6 x4 e5 (a) x3 x4 a6 (b) e4 e3 a7 a5 x3

dG (x2 ) = dG (x4 ) = 3.
a2 x1 a4 a3 x2

e1

x2

a1

Figure 1.9:

(a) an undirected graph G

(b) a digraph D

A vertex of degree d is called a d-degree vertex. A 0-degree vertex is called an isolated vertex. A vertex is called to be odd or even if its degree is odd or even. A graph G is k -regular if dG (x) = k for each x V (G), and G is regular if it is k -regular for some k , and k is called the regularity of G. For instance, Kn is (n 1)-regular; Kn,n is n-regular; Petersen graph is 3-regular; the n-cube is n-regular. The maximum degree of G: (G) = max{dG (x) : x V (G)}. The minimum degree of G: (G) = min{dG (x) : x V (G)}. Clearly, (G) = k = (G) if G is k -regular.

Vertex Degree for Digraphs: Let D be a digraph and y V (D).

+ ED (y ): a set of out-going edges of y in D. ED (y ): a set of in-coming edges of y in D. + The out-degree of y : d+ D (y ) = |ED (y )|. The in-degree of y : d D (y ) = |ED (y )|.

For the digraph D shown in Figure 1.9 (b), for instance, d+ D (y1 ) = 2, d D (y1 ) = 2, d+ D (y2 ) = 1, d D (y2 ) = 2, d+ D (y3 ) = 1, d D (y3 ) = 3, d+ D (y4 ) = 3; d D (y4 ) = 0,

A vertex y is called to be balanced if d+ D (y ) = dD (y ), and D is called to be

12

Basic Concepts of Graphs

balanced if each of its vertices is balanced. The parameters + (D) = max{d+ D (y ) : y V (D )}, (D) = max{d D (y ) : y V (D )} and

are the maximum out-degree and maximum in-degree of D, respectively. The parameters + (D) = min{d+ D (y ) : y V (D )}, (D) = min{d D (y ) : y V (D )} and

are the minimum out-degree and minimum in-degree of D, respectively. The parameters (D) = max{+ (D), (D)}, (D) = min { + (D), (D)} and

are the maximum and the minimum degree of a digraph D, respectively. A digraph D is k -regular if (D) = (D) = k .

The First Theorem: Let G be a bipartite undirected graph with a bipartite {X, Y }. It is easy to see that the relationship between degree of vertices and the number of edges of G is as follows. dG (x) = (G) =
x X y Y

dG (y ).

(1.3)

As a result, we have 2 (G) =

x V (G )

dG (x).

(1.4)

Generally, for any a digraph D we have the following relationship between degree of vertices and the number of edges of G.

Theorem 1.1 For any digraph D,

(D) =
x V

d+ D (x) =
x V

d D (x).

Proof: Let G be the associated bipartite graph with D of bipartition {X, Y }. Note that dG (x ) = d+ D (x), we have that d+ D (x) =
x V x X

dG (x ) = d D (x),

x V (D). By the equality (1.3),

dG (x ) = (G) =
x Y

dG (x ) =
x V

d D (x).

Since (D) = (G) by (1.2), the theorem follows.

Corollary 1.1 For any undirected graph G,

2(G) =
x V

dG (x)

1.3. VERTEX DEGREES and the number of vertices of odd degree is even.

13

Proof: Let D be the symmetric digraph of G. Then (D) = 2(G). Note that
dG (x) = d+ D (x) = dD (x),

x V.

By Theorem 1.1, we have that dG (x) =

x V x V

d+ D (x) =
x V

d D (x) = (D ) = 2(G).

Let Vo and Ve be the sets of vertices of odd and even degree in G, respectively. Then dG (x) +
xVo xVe xVo

dG (x) =
x V

dG (x) = 2(G). dG (x) is also even. Since dG (x) is odd

Since
xVe

dG (x) is even, it follows that

for any x Vo , thus, |Vo | is even.

Others Notations: The following notation and terminology are useful and
convenient to our discussions later on. Let D be a digraph, S and T are disjoint nonempty subset of V (D). The symbol ED (S, T ) denotes the set of edges of D whose tails are in S and heads are in T , and D (S, T ) = |ED (S, T )|. When just one graph is under discussion, we usually omit the letter D from these symbols and write (S, T ) and (S, T ) instead of ED (S, T ) and D (S, T ) for short. [S, T ] = (S, T ) (T, S ). If T = S = V (D) \ S , then we write
+ + ED (S ) (resp. ED (S )) instead of (S, S ) (resp. (S, S )), and d+ D (S ) = |ED (S )| (resp. d D (S ) = |ED (S )|). + The symbol ND (S ) (resp. ND (S )) denotes the set of heads (resp. tails) of edges

in ED [S ], which is called a set of out-neighbors (resp. in-neighbors) S in D. For instance, consider the digraph D shown in Figure 1.9. Let S = {y1 , y2 }, then
+ ED (S ) = {a3 }, ED (S ) = {a4 , a7 },

d+ D (S ) = 1, d D (S ) = 2,

+ ND (S ) = {y3 }, ND (S ) = {y3 , y4 }.

Similarly, for an undirected graph G and S V (G), the symbols EG (S ) and NG (S ) denote the set of edges incident with vertices in S in G and the set of neighbors of S in G, dG (S ) = |EG (S )|.

Example 1.3.1 Prove that (G)

without triangles.

1 4

v 2 for any simple undirected graph G

Proof: Arbitrarily choose xy E (G). Since G is simple and contains no triangle, it follows that [dG (x) 1] + [dG (y ) 1] v 2,

14 that is, dG (x) + dG (y ) v. Then summing over all edges in G yields d2 G (x) v .
x V

Basic Concepts of Graphs

By Cauchys inequality and Corollary 1.1, we have that v

x V

d2 G (x)

1 v

dG (x)
x V

4 2 , v

that is, (G)

1 4

v2 .

Example 1.3.2 Let G is a self-complementary simple undirected graph with

v 1 (mod 4). Prove that the number of vertices of degree
1 2

(v 1) in G is odd

(the self-complementary graph is dened in the exercise 1.2.6). Proof: Let Vo and Ve be the sets of vertices of odd and even degree in G, respectively. Then |Vo | is even by Corollary 1.1. Since v 1 (mod 4), v must be odd and, thus, |Ve | is odd and
1 2

(v 1) is even. Let 1 (v 1)}. 2

V = {x V (G) : dG (x) =

To prove the conclusion, we only need to show that |V | is even. To the end, let x V with dGc (x) =
1 2

(v 1) since G = Gc . Then there must exist yx V (G)

with dG (yx ) = dGc (x). Note that dG (yx ) = dGc (x) = (v 1) dGc (x) = 1 (v 1). 2 (1.5)

Thus, yx = x from (1.5) and yx V . Furthermore, yx = yz if x, z V and x = z . This fact implies that the vertices in V occur in pairs, which shows that |V | is even.

1.4. SUBGRAPHS AND OPERATIONS

15

1.4

Subgraphs and Operations

A subgraph is one of the most basic concepts in graph theory. In this section, we rst introduce various subgraphs induced by operations of graphs.

Subgraphs: Suppose that G = (V (G), E (G), G ) is a graph. A graph

H = (V (H ), E (H ), H ) is called a subgraph of G, denoted by H G, or G is a supergraph of H if V (H ) V (G), E (H ) E (G) and H is the restriction of G to E (H ). A subgraph H of G is called a spanning subgraph if V (H ) = V (G). Let S be a nonempty subset of V (G). The induced subgraph by S , denoted by G[S ], is a subgraph of G whose vertex-set is S and whose edge-set is the set of those edges of G that have both end-vertices in S . The symbol G S denotes the induced subgraph G[V \ S ]. Let B be a nonempty subset of E (G), the edge-induced subgraph by B , denoted by G[B ], is a subgraph of G whose vertex-set is the set of end-vertices of edges in B and whose edge-set is B . The symbol G B denotes the spanning subgraph G[E \ B ] of G. Similarly, the graph obtained by adding a set of extra edges F to G is denoted by G + F . Subgraphs of these various types are depicted in Figure 1.10.
x1 e5 x5 e8 e4 e6 e3 G x1 e7 x5 e8 e4 e6 e3 G {e1 , e5 } e2 e3 G[{e1 , e3 , e5 , e8 }] x2 e2 e4 e7 e1 x2 x5 e8 e6 e3 e2 e4 e5 x1 e1 x2 x5 e8 e7 x2

x4

x3

x4

x3

x4 G {x1 , x3 } x1

A spanning subgraph of G x1 e1 x2 x5 e5

e1 x2 e8

x4

x3

x4 G [ {x 1 , x 2 , x 4 }]

x4

x3

Figure 1.10:

A graph and its various types of subgraphs

Operations: Let G1 and G2 be subgraphs of G. We say that G1 and G2 are

disjoint if they have no vertex in common, and edge-disjoint if they have no edge in common. The union G1 G2 of G1 and G2 is the subgraph with vertex-set V (G1 ) V (G2 )

16

Basic Concepts of Graphs

and edge-set E (G1 ) E (G2 ). We write G1 + G2 for G1 G2 if G1 and G2 are disjoint, and G1 G2 for G1 G2 if G1 and G2 are edge-disjoint. If Gi = H for each i = 1, 2, , n, then write nH for G1 + G2 + + Gn . The intersection G1 G2 of G1 and G2 is dened similarly if V (G1 ) V (G2 ) = . These operations of graphs are depicted in Figure 1.11.
x1 x4 x1 x4

x2 x1 x3 x2 x3 x4

=
x2 x3

x2 x1 x3 x2 x1 x3

=
x2 x1 x3

x2

x5

x2

x5

x2

x5

x3

x4

x3

x4

x3

x4

Figure 1.11:

Union and intersection of graphs

An edge e of G is said to be contracted if it is deleted and its end-vertices are identied; the resulting graph is denoted by G e. This is illustrated in Figure 1.12.
x1 x1

x5

x2 x3 = x5

x2

x4

x3 G

x4 Ge

Figure 1.12:

A graph G e by contracting the edge e of G

Example 1.4.1 Let G be a balanced digraph. Then d+ G (X ) = dG (X ) for

any nonempty proper X V (G).

Proof: Let H = G[X ]. Since G is balanced, d+ G (x) = dG (x) for each x V (G).

By Theorem 1.1, we have that

x X

d+ H (x) =

x X

d H (x). Thus,
d H (x) = dG (X ) x X

d+ G (X ) =
x X

d+ G (x)
x X

d+ H (x) =
x X

d G (x)

as required.

Example 1.4.2 Let G be an undirected graph without loops. Then G

contains a bipartite spanning subgraph H such that dG (x) 2dH (x) for any x V (G). Hence (G) 2 (H ).

1.4. SUBGRAPHS AND OPERATIONS

17

Proof: Let H be a bipartite spanning subgraph of G with as many edges as possible, and let {X, Y } be a bipartition. Arbitrarily choose x V (G), without loss of generality, say x X . Let d = dG (x) dH (x). We claim that d dH (x). In fact, suppose to the contrary that d > dH (x). Let X = X \ {x} and Y = Y {x}. Consider a bipartite spanning subgraph H of G with the bipartition {X , Y }. Then (H ) (H ) = (H ) + d dH (x) > (H ), a contradiction. Thus, dG (x) = d + dH (x) 2 dH (x). Summing up all vertices in G yields that (G) 2 (H ) by Corollary 1.1.

Cartesian Product of Graphs: The cartesian product G1 G2 of

two simple graphs G1 and G2 is a graph with the vertex-set V1 V2 , in which there is an edge from a vertex x1 x2 to another y1 y2 , where x1 , y1 V (G1 ) and x2 , y2 V (G2 ), if and only if either x1 = y1 and (x2 , y2 ) E (G2 ), or x2 = y2 and (x1 , y1 ) E (G1 ). See Figure 1.8, for example, Q2 = K2 K2 , Q3 = K2 Q2 and Q4 = K2 Q3 , in general, Qn = K2 Qn1 . Some simple properties are stated in the exercise 1.4.6. Particularly, the cartesian product satises commutative and associative laws if we identify isomorphic graphs. It is the two laws that can make us greatly simplify proofs of many properties of the cartesian products. Let Gi = (Vi , Ei ) be a graph for each i = 1, 2, , n. By the commutative and associative laws of the cartesian product, we may write G1 G2 Gn for the cartesian product of G1 , G2 , , Gn , where V (G1 G2 Gn ) = V1 V2 Vn . Two vertices x1 x2 xn and y1 y2 yn are linked by an edge in G1 G2 Gn if and only if two vectors (x1 , x2 , , xn ) and (y1 , y2 , , yn ) dier exactly in one coordinate, say the ith, and there is an edge (xi , yi ) E (Gi ).

Example 1.4.3 An important class of graphs, the well-known hypercube

Qn , dened in Example 1.2.1, can be dened in terms of the cartesian products, that is, Qn = K 2 K 2 K 2
n

of n identical complete graph K2 , see Figure 1.8 for Q1 , Q2 , Q3 and Q4 . The hypercube is an important class of topological structures of interconnection networks, some of whose properties will be further discussed in some sections in this book.

18

Basic Concepts of Graphs

Line Graphs: The line graph of G, denoted by L(G), is a graph with

vertex-set E (G) in which there is an edge (a, b) if and only if there are vertices x, y, z V (G) such that G (a) = (x, y ) and G (b) = (y, z ). This is illustrated in Figure 1.13. Some simple properties of line graphs are stated in the exercise 1.4.4.
01 00 0 01 1 000 11 00 10 100 10
+ B (2, 1) = K2

001 101 010

011

111 11

110

B (2, 2) = L(B (2, 1)) 011

001

000

010

101

111

100 B (2, 3) = L(B (2, 2))

110

Figure 1.13:

Graphs and their line graphs

Assume that L(G) is the line graph of a graph G. If L(G) is non-empty and has no isolated vertices, then its line graph L(L(G)) exists. For integers n 1, Ln (G) = L(Ln1 (G)), where L0 (G) and L1 (G) denote G and L(G), respectively, and Ln1 (G) is assumed to be non-empty and has no isolated vertex. The graph Ln (G) is called the nth iterated line graph of a graph G. Example 1.4.4 Two important classes of graphs, the well-known n-dimensional d-ary Kautz digraph K (d, n) and de Bruijn digraphs B (d, n) can be dened as K (d, n) = Ln1 (Kd+1 )
+ B (d, n) = Ln1 (Kd ),

+ where Kd (d 2) denotes a digraph obtained from a complete digraph Kd by ap-

pending one loop at each vertex. The digraphs in Figure 1.13 are B (2, 1), B (2, 2) and B (2, 3). The original denitions of K (d, n) and B (d, n) will be given in Section 1.8,

Exercises:

1.3.5, 1.3.6