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    Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science Lecture Outline

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    Chenyang Fang
    This document outlines key concepts about trees in graph theory: - A tree is a connected acyclic graph. It has no cycles and every vertex is connected to every other vertex by exactly one path. - Several properties are shown to be equivalent to a graph being a tree, including having exactly n-1 edges for an n-vertex graph, and becoming disconnected upon removing any single edge. - Examples prove that every tree with at least two vertices has at least two leaves, and that removing a leaf produces a tree with one fewer vertex. Formal proofs are provided that the listed properties are equivalent to a graph being a tree.

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    Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science Lecture Outline

    Uploaded by

    Chenyang Fang
    30 views2 pages
    This document outlines key concepts about trees in graph theory: - A tree is a connected acyclic graph. It has no cycles and every vertex is connected to every other vertex by exactly one path. - Several properties are shown to be equivalent to a graph being a tree, including having exactly n-1 edges for an n-vertex graph, and becoming disconnected upon removing any single edge. - Examples prove that every tree with at least two vertices has at least two leaves, and that removing a leaf produces a tree with one fewer vertex. Formal proofs are provided that the listed properties are equivalent to a graph being a tree.

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    This document outlines key concepts about trees in graph theory: - A tree is a connected acyclic graph. It has no cycles and every vertex is connected to every other vertex by exactly one path. - Several properties are shown to be equivalent to a graph being a tree, including having exactly n-1 edges for an n-vertex graph, and becoming disconnected upon removing any single edge. - Examples prove that every tree with at least two vertices has at least two leaves, and that removing a leaf produces a tree with one fewer vertex. Formal proofs are provided that the listed properties are equivalent to a graph being a tree.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    30 views2 pages

    Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science Lecture Outline

    Uploaded by

    Chenyang Fang
    This document outlines key concepts about trees in graph theory: - A tree is a connected acyclic graph. It has no cycles and every vertex is connected to every other vertex by exactly one path. - Several properties are shown to be equivalent to a graph being a tree, including having exactly n-1 edges for an n-vertex graph, and becoming disconnected upon removing any single edge. - Examples prove that every tree with at least two vertices has at least two leaves, and that removing a leaf produces a tree with one fewer vertex. Formal proofs are provided that the listed properties are equivalent to a graph being a tree.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science

    Lecture Outline
    October 16, 2018

    Review of Definitions: Walk, path, cycle, connected graph, subgraph, induced sub-
    graph, connected component.

    Trees
    A graph with no cycles is acyclic. A tree is a connected acyclic graph. A vertex of degree
    greater than 1 in a tree is called an internal vertex, otherwise it is called a leaf. A forest is
    an acyclic graph.

    Example. Prove that every tree with at least two vertices has at least two leaves and
    deleting a leaf from an n-vertex tree produces a tree with n − 1 vertices.

    Solution. A connected graph with at least two vertices has an edge. In an acyclic graph,
    an endpoint of a maximal non-trivial path (a path that is not contained in a longer path)
    has no neighbors other than its only neighbor on the path. Hence, the endpoints of such a
    path are leaves.
    Let v be a leaf of a tree T and let T 0 = T − v. A vertex of degree 1 belongs to no path
    connecting two vertices other than v. Hence, for any two vertices u, w ∈ V (T 0 ), every path
    from u to w in T is also in T 0 . Hence T 0 is connected. Since deleting a vertex cannot create
    a cycle, T 0 is also acyclic. Thus, T 0 is a tree with n − 1 vertices.

    Example. For a n-vertex graph G, the following are equivalent and characterize trees
    with n vertices.

    (1) G is a tree.
    (2) G is connected and has exactly n − 1 edges.
    (3) G is minimally connected, i.e., G is connected but G − {e} is disconnected
    for every edge e ∈ G.
    (4) G contains no cycle but G + {x, y} does, for any two non-adjacent vertices
    x, y ∈ G.
    (5) Any two vertices of G are linked by a unique path in G.

    Solution. (1 → 2). We can prove this by induction on n. The property is clearly true
    for n = 1 as G has 0 edges. Assume that any tree with k vertices, for some k ≥ 0, has k − 1
    edges. We want to prove that a tree G with k + 1 vertices has k edges. From the example
    we did in last class we know that G has a leaf, say v, and that G0 = G − {v} is connected.
    By induction hypothesis, G0 has k − 1 edges. Since deg(v) = 1, G has k edges.
    2 Lecture Outline October 16, 2018

    (2 → 3). Note that G − {e} has n vertices and n − 2 edges. We know that such a graph
    has at least 2 connected components and hence is disconnected.

    (3 → 4). We are assuming that removing any edge in G disconnects G. If G contains a


    cycle then removing any edge, say {u, v}, that is part of the cycle does not disconnect G as
    any path that uses {u, v} can now use the alternate route from u to v on the cycle. Since
    G is connected there is a path from x to y in G. Let G0 = G + {x, y}. G0 consists of a cycle
    formed by the edge {x, y} and the path from x to y in G.

    (4 → 5). Note that since G + {x, y} creates a cycle for for any two non-adjacent vertices in
    G, it must be that there must be a path between x and y in G. We will now show that there
    is exactly one path between any two vertices in G. We will prove this by showing that if
    there are two vertices that have two different paths between them then G contains a cycle.
    Assume that there are two paths from u to v. Beginning at u, let a be the first vertex at
    which the two paths separate and let b be the first vertex after a where the two paths meet.
    Then, there are two simple paths from a to b with no common edges. Combining these two
    paths gives us a cycle.

    (5 → 1). Since there is a path between any two vertices in G, G must be connected. Now
    we want to show that G is acyclic. Assume otherwise. Then, any two vertices on the cycle
    can reach each other by two disjoint, simple paths that consist of edges of the cycle. This
    proves that not every pair of vertices in G has a unique path between them. We have thus
    proved the claim by proving the contrapositive.

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