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Concept
Vertex (graph theory)
Summary
In discrete mathematics, and more specifically in graph theory, a vertex (plural vertices) or node is the fundamental unit of which graphs are formed: an undirected graph consists of a set of vertices and a set of edges (unordered pairs of vertices), while a directed graph consists of a set of vertices and a set of arcs (ordered pairs of vertices). In a diagram of a graph, a vertex is usually represented by a circle with a label, and an edge is represented by a line or arrow extending from one vertex to another.
From the point of view of graph theory, vertices are treated as featureless and indivisible objects, although they may have additional structure depending on the application from which the graph arises; for instance, a semantic network is a graph in which the vertices represent concepts or classes of objects.
The two vertices forming an edge are said to be the endpoints of this edge, and the edge is said to be incident to the vertices. A vertex w is said to be adjacent to another vertex v if the graph contains an edge (v,w). The neighborhood of a vertex v is an induced subgraph of the graph, formed by all vertices adjacent to v.
The degree of a vertex, denoted δ(v) in a graph is the number of edges incident to it. An isolated vertex is a vertex with degree zero; that is, a vertex that is not an endpoint of any edge (the example image illustrates one isolated vertex). A leaf vertex (also pendant vertex) is a vertex with degree one. In a directed graph, one can distinguish the outdegree (number of outgoing edges), denoted δ +(v), from the indegree (number of incoming edges), denoted δ−(v); a source vertex is a vertex with indegree zero, while a sink vertex is a vertex with outdegree zero. A simplicial vertex is one whose neighbors form a clique: every two neighbors are adjacent. A universal vertex is a vertex that is adjacent to every other vertex in the graph.
A cut vertex is a vertex the removal of which would disconnect the remaining graph; a vertex separator is a collection of vertices the removal of which would disconnect the remaining graph into small pieces.
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