GRAPHS

Think of all the various connections we experience in our lives—friends are connected on
social media, cities are connected by roads, computers are connected across the Internet, and so
on. A branch of mathematics called graph theory illustrates and analyzes connections such as
these.
For example, Facebook users may be represented by dots, and line segments may be used
to connect two dots if the people they represent are connected as friends on Facebook. This type
of diagram is called a graph (note that this is a different kind of graph from the graph of a
function). A graph is a set of points called vertices and line segments or curves called edges that
connect vertices.

Graphs can be used to represent many different scenarios. For instance, competing teams
in a sports league may be illustrated as vertices, and two teams may be connected by an edge if
they will play each other within the current season. Graphs may also be used to represent
different cities (vertices) and airline flights available between different cities (edges).
In general, a graph can include vertices that are not joined to any edges, but all edges
must begin and end at vertices. If two or more edges connect the same vertices, they are called
multiple edges. If an edge begins and ends at the same vertex, it is called a loop.
A graph is called connected if any vertex can be reached from any other vertex by
tracing along edges. (Essentially, the graph consists of one “piece”.) A connected graph in which
every possible edge is drawn between vertices (without any multiple edges) is called a complete
graph. Several examples of graphs are shown below.
 w
w
This graph has five vertices but no edges. It This is a connected graph that has a pair of
is not connected. multiple edges. Note that two edges cross
in the center, but there is no vertex at the
intersection. Unless a dot is drawn, the
edges are considered to pass over each
other without touching.

This graph is not connected, as it consists This is a complete graph with five vertices.
of two different sections. It also contains
one loop.

Note that it does not matter whether the edges are drawn straight or curved, and their
lengths are not important. Nor is the placement of the vertices important. All that matters is
which vertices are connected by edges.
Consequently, the three graphs shown below are considered equivalent graphs because
the edges form the same connections of vertices in each graph.
EULER CIRCUITS
In the early 18th century, the Pregel River in a city called Königsberg (located in modern-
day Russia and now called Kaliningrad) surrounded an island before splitting in two. Seven
bridges crossed the river and connected four different land areas, similar to the map drawn
below.

Many citizens of the time attempted to take a stroll that would lead them across each
bridge and return them to the starting point without traversing the same bridge twice. None of
them could do it, no matter where they chose to start. In 1736, the Swiss mathematician
Leonhard Euler proved that it is, in fact, impossible to walk such a path, in the process laying the
foundations for graph theory. This section presents Euler’s reasoning in proving this result.
We may use a graph (see below) as a simplified map of Königsberg, where each vertex
represents a land area within the city and each edge represents a bridge. We can then restate the
problem in terms of a graph: Can we start at any vertex, move through each edge exactly once,
and return to the starting vertex?

Before we can examine how Euler proved this task impossible, we need to establish some
terminology. A path in a graph can be thought of as a movement from one vertex to another by
traversing edges. It is often convenient to identify a path using vertex names. Thus, one path in
the Königsberg graph would be A-B-A-C.
If a path ends at the same vertex at which it started, it is considered a closed path or a
circuit. A-C-D-A is a circuit.
A circuit that uses every edge, but never uses the same edge twice, is called an Euler
circuit. (The path may cross through vertices more than once.) In the graph below, A-B-C-A is
an Euler circuit.

All of this relates to the Königsberg bridges problem in the following way: Finding a path
that crosses each bridge exactly once and returns to the starting point is equivalent to finding an
Euler circuit for the graph that represents the map of Königsberg (hereafter referred to as the
Königsberg graph).
 Euler essentially proved that the Königsberg graph cannot possibly have an Euler circuit.
He accomplished this by examining the number of edges that meet at each vertex. The number of
edges that meet at a vertex is called the degree of a vertex. He made the observation that in order
to complete the desired path, every time you approached a vertex you would then need to leave
that vertex. If you traveled through that vertex, you would again need an approaching edge and a
departing edge. Thus for an Euler circuit to exist, the degree of every vertex would have to be an
even number. Furthermore, he was able to show that any graph that has an even degree at every
vertex must have an Euler circuit. Consequently, such graphs are known as Eulerian graphs.
Additionally, if a graph is complete, then it is also Eulerian.

Euler Paths
Perhaps the Königsberg bridges problem would have a solution if we did not need to
return to the starting point. In this case, what we are looking for is a path (not necessarily a
circuit) that uses every edge exactly once. We call such a path an Euler path. Euler showed that
even with this relaxed condition, the bridge problem was still not solvable. The general result of
his argument is summarized by the Euler Path Theorem: A connected graph contains an Euler
path if and only if the graph has two vertices of odd degree with all other vertices of even degree.
Furthermore, every Euler path must start at one of the vertices with odd degree and end at the
other.
To see why this theorem is true, note that the only places at which an Euler path differs
from an Euler circuit are the start and end vertices. If we never return to the starting vertex, only
one edge meets there and the degree of the vertex is 1. If we do return, we cannot stop there. So
we depart again, giving the vertex a degree of 3. Similarly, any return trip means that an
additional two edges meet at the vertex. Thus the degree of the start vertex must be odd. By
similar reasoning, the ending vertex must also be of odd degree. All other vertices, just as in the
case of an Euler circuit, must be of even degree.
Returning to the Königsberg graph, we find that vertex A has a degree of 5 while all
other vertices have a degree of 3. Thus, there are more than two vertices with odd degree, which
means that the Königsberg graph does not have an Euler path.