Prüfer sequence

In combinatorial mathematics, the Prüfer sequence (also Prüfer code or Prüfer numbers) of a labeled tree is a unique sequence associated with the tree. The sequence for a tree on ''n'' vertices has length ''n'' − 2, and can be generated by a simple iterative algorithm. Prüfer sequences were first used by Heinz Prüfer to prove Cayley's formula in 1918.

Algorithm to convert a tree into a Prüfer sequence

One can generate a labeled tree's Prüfer sequence by iteratively removing vertices from the tree until only two vertices remain. Specifically, consider a labeled tree ''T'' with vertices . At step ''i'', remove the leaf with the smallest label and set the ''i''th element of the Prüfer sequence to be the label of this leaf's neighbour.

The Prüfer sequence of a labeled tree is unique and has length ''n'' − 2.

Both coding and decoding can be reduced to integer radix sorting and parallelized.

Example

Consider the above algorithm run on the tree shown to the right. Initially, vertex 1 is the leaf with the smallest label, so it is removed first and 4 is put in the Prüfer sequence. Vertices 2 and 3 are removed next, so 4 is added twice more. Vertex 4 is now a leaf and has the smallest label, so it is removed and we append 5 to the sequence. We are left with only two vertices, so we stop. The tree's sequence is .

Algorithm to convert a Prüfer sequence into a tree

Let be a Prüfer sequence:

The tree will have n+2 nodes, numbered from 1 to n+2.
For each node set its degree to the number of times it appears in the sequence plus 1.
For instance, in pseudo-code:

Convert-Prüfer-to-Tree(''a'')
1 ''n'' ← ''length'' 'a'' 2 ''T'' ← a graph with ''n'' + 2 isolated nodes, numbered 1 to ''n'' + 2
3 ''degree'' ← an array of integers
4 for each node ''i'' in ''T'' do
5 ''degree'' 'i''← 1
6 for each value ''i'' in ''a'' do
7 ''degree'' 'i''← ''degree'' 'i''+ 1

Next, for each number in the sequence a /code>, find the first (lowest-numbered) node, j, with degree equal to 1, add the edge (j, a to the tree, and decrement the degrees of j and a /code>. In pseudo-code:

8 for each value ''i'' in ''a'' do
9 for each node ''j'' in ''T'' do
10 if ''degree'' 'j''= 1 then
11 Insert ''edge'' 'i'', ''j''into ''T''
12 ''degree'' 'i''← ''degree'' 'i''- 1
13 ''degree'' 'j''← ''degree'' 'j''- 1
14 break

At the end of this loop two nodes with degree 1 will remain (call them u, v). Lastly, add the edge (u,v) to the tree.

15 ''u'' ← ''v'' ← 0
16 for each node ''i'' in ''T''
17 if ''degree'' 'i''= 1 then
18 if ''u'' = 0 then
19 ''u'' ← ''i''
20 else
21 ''v'' ← ''i''
22 break
23 Insert ''edge'' 'u'', ''v''into ''T''
24 ''degree'' 'u''← ''degree'' 'u''- 1
25 ''degree'' 'v''← ''degree'' 'v''- 1
26 return ''T''


Cayley's formula

The Prüfer sequence of a labeled tree on ''n'' vertices is a unique sequence of length ''n'' − 2 on the labels 1 to ''n''. For a given sequence ''S'' of length ''n''–2 on the labels 1 to ''n'', there is a ''unique'' labeled tree whose Prüfer sequence is ''S''.

The immediate consequence is that Prüfer sequences provide a bijection between the set of labeled trees on ''n'' vertices and the set of sequences of length ''n'' − 2 on the labels 1 to ''n''. The latter set has size ''n''''n''−2, so the existence of this bijection proves Cayley's formula, i.e. that there are
''n''''n''−2 labeled trees on ''n'' vertices.


Other applications

* Cayley's formula can be strengthened to prove the following claim:
:The number of spanning trees in a complete graph $K_n$ with a degree $d_i$ specified for each vertex $i$ is equal to the multinomial coefficient
::$\binom=\frac.$
:The proof follows by observing that in the Prüfer sequence number $i$ appears exactly $(d_i-1)$ times.

* Cayley's formula can be generalized: a labeled tree is in fact a spanning tree of the labeled complete graph. By placing restrictions on the enumerated Prüfer sequences, similar methods can give the number of spanning trees of a complete bipartite graph. If ''G'' is the complete bipartite graph with vertices 1 to ''n''₁ in one partition and vertices ''n''₁ + 1 to ''n'' in the other partition, the number of labeled spanning trees of ''G'' is $n_1^ n_2^$, where ''n''₂ = ''n'' − ''n''₁.
* Generating uniformly distributed random Prüfer sequences and converting them into the corresponding trees is a straightforward method of generating uniformly distributed random labelled trees.

References

External links

Prüfer code
– from MathWorld

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prufer Sequence
Enumerative combinatorics
Trees (graph theory)