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Deletion–contraction Formula
In graph theory, a deletion-contraction formula / recursion is any formula of the following recursive form: :f(G) = f(G \setminus e) + f(G / e). Here ''G'' is a graph, ''f'' is a function on graphs, ''e'' is any edge of ''G'', ''G'' \ ''e'' denotes edge deletion, and ''G'' / ''e'' denotes contraction. Tutte refers to such a function as a W-function. The formula is sometimes referred to as the fundamental reduction theorem. In this article we abbreviate to DC. R. M. Foster had already observed that the chromatic polynomial is one such function, and Tutte began to discover more, including a function ''f'' = ''t''(''G'') counting the number of spanning trees of a graph (also see Kirchhoff's theorem). It was later found that the flow polynomial is yet another; and soon Tutte discovered an entire class of functions called Tutte polynomials (originally referred to as dichromates) that satisfy DC. Examples Spanning trees The number of spanning trees t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graph Theory
In mathematics, graph theory is the study of ''graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are connected by '' edges'' (also called ''links'' or ''lines''). A distinction is made between undirected graphs, where edges link two vertices symmetrically, and directed graphs, where edges link two vertices asymmetrically. Graphs are one of the principal objects of study in discrete mathematics. Definitions Definitions in graph theory vary. The following are some of the more basic ways of defining graphs and related mathematical structures. Graph In one restricted but very common sense of the term, a graph is an ordered pair G=(V,E) comprising: * V, a set of vertices (also called nodes or points); * E \subseteq \, a set of edges (also called links or lines), which are unordered pairs of vertices (that is, an edge is associated with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recurrence Relation
In mathematics, a recurrence relation is an equation according to which the nth term of a sequence of numbers is equal to some combination of the previous terms. Often, only k previous terms of the sequence appear in the equation, for a parameter k that is independent of n; this number k is called the ''order'' of the relation. If the values of the first k numbers in the sequence have been given, the rest of the sequence can be calculated by repeatedly applying the equation. In ''linear recurrences'', the th term is equated to a linear function of the k previous terms. A famous example is the recurrence for the Fibonacci numbers, F_n=F_+F_ where the order k is two and the linear function merely adds the two previous terms. This example is a linear recurrence with constant coefficients, because the coefficients of the linear function (1 and 1) are constants that do not depend on n. For these recurrences, one can express the general term of the sequence as a closed-form expression o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edge Contraction
In graph theory, an edge contraction is an operation that removes an edge from a graph while simultaneously merging the two vertices that it previously joined. Edge contraction is a fundamental operation in the theory of graph minors. Vertex identification is a less restrictive form of this operation. Definition The edge contraction operation occurs relative to a particular edge, e. The edge e is removed and its two incident vertices, u and v, are merged into a new vertex w, where the edges incident to w each correspond to an edge incident to either u or v. More generally, the operation may be performed on a set of edges by contracting each edge (in any order). The resulting induced graph is sometimes written as G/e. (Contrast this with G \setminus e, which means removing the edge e.) As defined below, an edge contraction operation may result in a graph with multiple edges even if the original graph was a simple graph. However, some authors disallow the creation of multip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chromatic Polynomial
The chromatic polynomial is a graph polynomial studied in algebraic graph theory, a branch of mathematics. It counts the number of graph colorings as a function of the number of colors and was originally defined by George David Birkhoff to study the four color problem. It was generalised to the Tutte polynomial by Hassler Whitney and W. T. Tutte, linking it to the Potts model of statistical physics. History George David Birkhoff introduced the chromatic polynomial in 1912, defining it only for planar graphs, in an attempt to prove the four color theorem. If P(G, k) denotes the number of proper colorings of ''G'' with ''k'' colors then one could establish the four color theorem by showing P(G, 4)>0 for all planar graphs ''G''. In this way he hoped to apply the powerful tools of analysis and algebra for studying the roots of polynomials to the combinatorial coloring problem. Hassler Whitney generalised Birkhoff’s polynomial from the planar case to general graphs in 1932. In 1968 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanning Tree
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a spanning tree ''T'' of an undirected graph ''G'' is a subgraph that is a tree which includes all of the vertices of ''G''. In general, a graph may have several spanning trees, but a graph that is not connected will not contain a spanning tree (see about spanning forests below). If all of the edges of ''G'' are also edges of a spanning tree ''T'' of ''G'', then ''G'' is a tree and is identical to ''T'' (that is, a tree has a unique spanning tree and it is itself). Applications Several pathfinding algorithms, including Dijkstra's algorithm and the A* search algorithm, internally build a spanning tree as an intermediate step in solving the problem. In order to minimize the cost of power networks, wiring connections, piping, automatic speech recognition, etc., people often use algorithms that gradually build a spanning tree (or many such trees) as intermediate steps in the process of finding the minimum spanning tree. The Internet and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirchhoff's Theorem
In the mathematical field of graph theory, Kirchhoff's theorem or Kirchhoff's matrix tree theorem named after Gustav Kirchhoff is a theorem about the number of spanning trees in a graph, showing that this number can be computed in polynomial time from the determinant of a submatrix of the Laplacian matrix of the graph; specifically, the number is equal to ''any'' cofactor of the Laplacian matrix. Kirchhoff's theorem is a generalization of Cayley's formula which provides the number of spanning trees in a complete graph. Kirchhoff's theorem relies on the notion of the Laplacian matrix of a graph that is equal to the difference between the graph's degree matrix (a diagonal matrix with vertex degrees on the diagonals) and its adjacency matrix (a (0,1)-matrix with 1's at places corresponding to entries where the vertices are adjacent and 0's otherwise). For a given connected graph ''G'' with ''n'' labeled vertices, let ''λ''1, ''λ''2, ..., ''λn''−1 be the non-zer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flow Polynomial
The Tutte polynomial, also called the dichromate or the Tutte–Whitney polynomial, is a graph polynomial. It is a polynomial in two variables which plays an important role in graph theory. It is defined for every undirected graph G and contains information about how the graph is connected. It is denoted by T_G. The importance of this polynomial stems from the information it contains about G. Though originally studied in algebraic graph theory as a generalization of counting problems related to graph coloring and nowhere-zero flow, it contains several famous other specializations from other sciences such as the Jones polynomial from knot theory and the partition functions of the Potts model from statistical physics. It is also the source of several central computational problems in theoretical computer science. The Tutte polynomial has several equivalent definitions. It is equivalent to Whitney’s rank polynomial, Tutte’s own dichromatic polynomial and Fortuin–Kastele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tutte Polynomial
The Tutte polynomial, also called the dichromate or the Tutte–Whitney polynomial, is a graph polynomial. It is a polynomial in two variables which plays an important role in graph theory. It is defined for every undirected graph G and contains information about how the graph is connected. It is denoted by T_G. The importance of this polynomial stems from the information it contains about G. Though originally studied in algebraic graph theory as a generalization of counting problems related to graph coloring and nowhere-zero flow, it contains several famous other specializations from other sciences such as the Jones polynomial from knot theory and the partition functions of the Potts model from statistical physics. It is also the source of several central computational problems in theoretical computer science. The Tutte polynomial has several equivalent definitions. It is equivalent to Whitney’s rank polynomial, Tutte’s own dichromatic polynomial and Fortuin–Kasteleyn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynomial
In mathematics, a polynomial is an expression consisting of indeterminates (also called variables) and coefficients, that involves only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and positive-integer powers of variables. An example of a polynomial of a single indeterminate is . An example with three indeterminates is . Polynomials appear in many areas of mathematics and science. For example, they are used to form polynomial equations, which encode a wide range of problems, from elementary word problems to complicated scientific problems; they are used to define polynomial functions, which appear in settings ranging from basic chemistry and physics to economics and social science; they are used in calculus and numerical analysis to approximate other functions. In advanced mathematics, polynomials are used to construct polynomial rings and algebraic varieties, which are central concepts in algebra and algebraic geometry. Etymology The word ''polynomial'' join ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Induction
Mathematical induction is a method for proving that a statement ''P''(''n'') is true for every natural number ''n'', that is, that the infinitely many cases ''P''(0), ''P''(1), ''P''(2), ''P''(3), ... all hold. Informal metaphors help to explain this technique, such as falling dominoes or climbing a ladder: A proof by induction consists of two cases. The first, the base case, proves the statement for ''n'' = 0 without assuming any knowledge of other cases. The second case, the induction step, proves that ''if'' the statement holds for any given case ''n'' = ''k'', ''then'' it must also hold for the next case ''n'' = ''k'' + 1. These two steps establish that the statement holds for every natural number ''n''. The base case does not necessarily begin with ''n'' = 0, but often with ''n'' = 1, and possibly with any fixed natural number ''n'' = ''N'', establishing the truth of the statement for all natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inclusion–exclusion Principle
In combinatorics, a branch of mathematics, the inclusion–exclusion principle is a counting technique which generalizes the familiar method of obtaining the number of elements in the union of two finite sets; symbolically expressed as : , A \cup B, = , A, + , B, - , A \cap B, where ''A'' and ''B'' are two finite sets and , ''S'', indicates the cardinality of a set ''S'' (which may be considered as the number of elements of the set, if the set is finite). The formula expresses the fact that the sum of the sizes of the two sets may be too large since some elements may be counted twice. The double-counted elements are those in the intersection of the two sets and the count is corrected by subtracting the size of the intersection. The inclusion-exclusion principle, being a generalization of the two-set case, is perhaps more clearly seen in the case of three sets, which for the sets ''A'', ''B'' and ''C'' is given by :, A \cup B \cup C, = , A, + , B, + , C, - , A \cap B, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chromatic Polynomial
The chromatic polynomial is a graph polynomial studied in algebraic graph theory, a branch of mathematics. It counts the number of graph colorings as a function of the number of colors and was originally defined by George David Birkhoff to study the four color problem. It was generalised to the Tutte polynomial by Hassler Whitney and W. T. Tutte, linking it to the Potts model of statistical physics. History George David Birkhoff introduced the chromatic polynomial in 1912, defining it only for planar graphs, in an attempt to prove the four color theorem. If P(G, k) denotes the number of proper colorings of ''G'' with ''k'' colors then one could establish the four color theorem by showing P(G, 4)>0 for all planar graphs ''G''. In this way he hoped to apply the powerful tools of analysis and algebra for studying the roots of polynomials to the combinatorial coloring problem. Hassler Whitney generalised Birkhoff’s polynomial from the planar case to general graphs in 1932. In 1968 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
