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Concept
Hamiltonian path
Summary
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a Hamiltonian path (or traceable path) is a path in an undirected or directed graph that visits each vertex exactly once. A Hamiltonian cycle (or Hamiltonian circuit) is a cycle that visits each vertex exactly once. A Hamiltonian path that starts and ends at adjacent vertices can be completed by adding one more edge to form a Hamiltonian cycle, and removing any edge from a Hamiltonian cycle produces a Hamiltonian path. Determining whether such paths and cycles exist in graphs (the Hamiltonian path problem and Hamiltonian cycle problem) are NP-complete.
Hamiltonian paths and cycles are named after William Rowan Hamilton who invented the icosian game, now also known as Hamilton's puzzle, which involves finding a Hamiltonian cycle in the edge graph of the dodecahedron. Hamilton solved this problem using the icosian calculus, an algebraic structure based on roots of unity with many similarities to the quaternions (also invented by Hamilton). This solution does not generalize to arbitrary graphs.
Despite being named after Hamilton, Hamiltonian cycles in polyhedra had also been studied a year earlier by Thomas Kirkman, who, in particular, gave an example of a polyhedron without Hamiltonian cycles. Even earlier, Hamiltonian cycles and paths in the knight's graph of the chessboard, the knight's tour, had been studied in the 9th century in Indian mathematics by Rudrata, and around the same time in Islamic mathematics by al-Adli ar-Rumi. In 18th century Europe, knight's tours were published by Abraham de Moivre and Leonhard Euler.
A Hamiltonian path or traceable path is a path that visits each vertex of the graph exactly once. A graph that contains a Hamiltonian path is called a traceable graph. A graph is Hamiltonian-connected if for every pair of vertices there is a Hamiltonian path between the two vertices.
A Hamiltonian cycle, Hamiltonian circuit, vertex tour or graph cycle is a cycle that visits each vertex exactly once. A graph that contains a Hamiltonian cycle is called a Hamiltonian graph.
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