Chapter 5:

Glossary of graph theory

Basic:
- Graph theory is a growth area in mathematical research, and has a large specialized vocabulary. Some
authors use the same word with different meanings. Some authors use different words to mean the same
thing. This chapter attempts to keep up with current usage.

- A graph G consists of two types of elements, namely vertices and edges. Every edge has two endpoints in
the set of vertices, and is said to connect or join the two endpoints. The set of edges can thus be defined as
a subset of the family of all two-element sets of vertices.
Often, however, the set of vertices is considered as a set , and
there is an incidence relation which maps each edge to the
pair of vertices that are its endpoints.
- Edges may be endowed with direction, leading to the notion
of a directed graph or a digraph, see section Direction.
Alternative models of graph exist; e.g., a graph may be thought of as a Boolean binary function over the set
of vertices or as a square (0,1)-matrix.
- A vertex (basic element) is simply drawn as a node or a dot. The vertex set of G is usually denoted by V(G),
or V when there is no danger of confusion. The order of a graph is the number of its vertices, i.e. V(G) .
- An edge (a set of two elements) is drawn as a line connecting, called end vertices, or end points. An edge
with end vertices x and y is denoted by xy (without any symbol in between). The edge set of G is usually
denoted by E(G), or E when there is no danger of confusion.
- The size of a graph is the number of its edges, i.e. E(G) .
- A loop is an edge whose end vertices are the same vertex. A link has two distinct
end vertices.

An edge is multiple if there is another edge with the same end vertices; otherwise it is simple.
The multiplicity of an edge is the number of multiple edges sharing the same end vertices; the multiplicity of a
graph, the maximum multiplicity of its edges.
A graph is a simple graph if it has no multiple edges or loops, a multigraph if it has multiple edges, but no
loops, and a multigraph or pseudograph if it contains both multiples edges and loops (the literature is highly
inconsistent).
When stated without any qualification, a graph is almost always assumed to be simple-or one has to judge
from the context.
- A subgraph is a graph that is formed from a subset of the vertices and edges of another graph. More
formally, a graph G′=(V′,E′)G' = (V', E')G′=(V′,E′) is a subgraph of a graph G=(V,E)G = (V, E)G=(V,E) if:
• V′⊆V : The vertex set of G′ is a subset of the vertex set of G.
• E′⊆E : The edge set of G′ is a subset of the edge set of G, where each edge in E′ connects vertices in V′.

- Example:
Let G=(V,E) be a graph where V={A,B,C,D} and and E={(A,B),(B,C),(C,D),(A,D)}. A sub graph G′ could be:
V′={A,B,C}, E′={(A,B),(B,C)}.
In this case, G′ includes only the vertices A,B,C and the edges that connect them.
Note: Sub graphs are essential in many areas of graph theory, especially in problems involving searching,
partitioning, or analyzing specific properties of graphs.
- A partial graph refers to a graph that is derived from another graph by removing some of its edges while
retaining all the original vertices. In other words, a partial graph G′G'G′ of a graph GGG is a graph that contains
the same set of vertices as GGG but possibly fewer edges.
Formal Definition:
Let G=(V,E) be a graph where:
• V is the set of vertices.
• E is the set of edges.
 A partial graph G′=(V,E′) is a sub-graph of G such that:
• V′=V (the vertex set is the same).
• E′⊆E (the edge set E′ is a subset of E, meaning that some or all edges may be removed).
Example:
- Consider a graph G with vertices V={A,B,C,D} and edges E={(A,B),(B,C),(C,D),(A,D)}. A partial graph G′ could
have the same vertices but fewer edges, such as E′={(A,B),(C,D)}, where two edges from G are removed.
- Partial graphs are useful in many areas of graph theory, such as when analyzing different substructures
within a larger graph or in optimization problems like Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) algorithms.
- A complete graph is a type of graph in which every pair of distinct vertices is connected by a unique edge.
In other words, a complete graph is one where every vertex is directly connected to every other vertex.
Notation:
• A complete graph with n vertices is denoted by 𝑘𝑛 ​.

- Properties of a Complete Graph:

• Vertices: A complete graph 𝑘𝑛 ​ has n vertices.
• Edges: The number of edges in a complete graph is given by the formula: n(n−1)/2 because each of the n
vertices is connected to n−1 other vertices, but each edge is counted twice (once for each vertex).
• Degree: In a complete graph, every vertex has a degree of n−1 because it is connected to every other vertex.
• Edge Density: A complete graph is the densest possible graph because it contains the maximum number of
edges for a graph with n vertices.
• Symmetry: Complete graphs are highly symmetrical, meaning they look the same regardless of how they are
drawn or which vertex is chosen as a reference point.
- Example:
• 𝒌𝟑 (Complete graph with 3 vertices): This is a triangle, where each vertex is connected to the other two
vertices.
• 𝒌𝟒 ​ (Complete graph with 4 vertices): A graph with 4 vertices where each vertex is connected to all the
others, resulting in 6 edges.
- Visualization:
• 𝒌𝟐 : Two vertices connected by a single edge.
• 𝒌𝟑 ​: A triangle, with edges between all three vertices.
• 𝒌𝟒 : A quadrilateral with diagonal edges connecting all
pairs of vertices.
- Applications:
Complete graphs are used in various fields such as network theory, combinatory, and optimization problems.
For example, the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is often formulated on a complete graph where each
vertex represents a city, and each edge represents the cost or distance between cities.
Graph labeling usually refers to the assignement of unique labels (usually natural numbers) to the edges and
vertices of a graph. Graphs with labeled edges are known as labeled, those without as unlabeled.
More specifically, graphs with labeled vertices only are vertex-labeled, those with labeled only are edge-
labeled. (This usage is to distinguish between graphs with identifiable vertex or edge sets on the one hand, and
isomorphism types or classes of graphs on the other.)
- The girth of a graph is the length of a shortest (simple)
- cycle in the graph; and the circumference, the length of
a longest (simple) cycle. The girth and circumference of an
acyclic graph are defined to be infinity ∞.
- A graph is acyclic if it contains no cycles; unicyclic if it contains exactly one cycle; and pancyclic if it contains
cycles of every possible length (from 3 to the order of the graph).

- A cycle of length n is denoted by 𝐶𝑛 . 𝐶1 is a loop, 𝐶2 is

a pair of digons (multiple edges), and 𝐶3 is called a triangle.
- A path or cycle is Hamiltonian (or spanning) if it uses all vertices exactly once. A graph that contains a
Hamiltonian path is traceable; and one that contains a Hamiltonian path for any
given pair of (distinct) endvertices is a Hamiltonian connected graph.
- A graph that contains a Hamiltonian
cycle is a Hamiltonian graph.

- A trail or circuit (or cycle) is Eulerian if it uses all edges precisely once.
- A graph that contains an Eulerian trail is traversable. A graph that contains an Eulerian circuit is an Eulerian
graph.
The example graph does not contain an Eulerian trail, but it does contain a Hamiltonian path.

Two paths are Internally disjoint (some people call it independent) if they do not have any vertex in
common, except the first and last ones.
- A theta graph is the union of three internally disjoint (simple) paths that have the same two distinct
endvertices.
- A theta𝟎 graph has seven vertices which can be arranged as the vertices of a regular hexagon plus an
additional vertex in the center. The eight edges are the perimeter of the hexagon plus one diameter.

• Trees
A tree is a connected acyclic simple graph. A vertex of degree 1 is called a leaf, or pendant vertex. An
edge incident to a leaf is a leaf edge, or pendant edge. (Some people define a leaf edge as a leaf and
then define a leaf vertex on top of it. These two sets of definitions are often used interchangeably.)
A non-leaf vertex is an internal vertex. Sometimes, one vertex of the tree is distinguished, and called
the root. A rooted tree is a tree with a root.
Rooted trees are often treated as directed acyclic graphs
with the edges pointing away from the root.
Trees are commonly used as data structures in computer science (see tree data structure).
A subtree of the tree T is a connected subgraph of T. A forest is an acyclic simple graph.
A subforest of the forest F is a subgraph of F.
A spanning tree is a spanning subgraph that is a tree. Every graph has a spanning forest. But only a connected
graph has a spanning tree.
A special kind of tree called a star is 𝐾1,𝑘 . An induced star with 3 edges is a claw.
A k-ary tree is a rooted tree in which every internal vertex has k children.
An 1-ary tree is just a path. A2-ary tree is also called a binary tree.
Cliques
The complete graph 𝐾𝑛 of order n is a simple graph with n vertices in which every vertex is adjacent to every
other. The example graph is not complete. The complete graph on n vertices is often denoted by 𝐾𝑛 . It has n(n-
1)/2 edges (corresponding to all possible choices of pairs of vertices). A clique (pronounced ‘’cleek’’) in a graph
is a set of pairwise adjacent vertices.