Concept
Spanning tree
Related concepts (22)
Bridge (graph theory)
In graph theory, a bridge, isthmus, cut-edge, or cut arc is an edge of a graph whose deletion increases the graph's number of connected components. Equivalently, an edge is a bridge if and only if it is not contained in any cycle. For a connected graph, a bridge can uniquely determine a cut. A graph is said to be bridgeless or isthmus-free if it contains no bridges. This type of bridge should be distinguished from an unrelated meaning of "bridge" in graph theory, a subgraph separated from the rest of the graph by a specified subset of vertices; see bridge.
Circuit rank
In graph theory, a branch of mathematics, the circuit rank, cyclomatic number, cycle rank, or nullity of an undirected graph is the minimum number of edges that must be removed from the graph to break all its cycles, making it into a tree or forest. It is equal to the number of independent cycles in the graph (the size of a cycle basis). Unlike the corresponding feedback arc set problem for directed graphs, the circuit rank r is easily computed using the formula where m is the number of edges in the given graph, n is the number of vertices, and c is the number of connected components.
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.
Laplacian matrix
In the mathematical field of graph theory, the Laplacian matrix, also called the graph Laplacian, admittance matrix, Kirchhoff matrix or discrete Laplacian, is a matrix representation of a graph. Named after Pierre-Simon Laplace, the graph Laplacian matrix can be viewed as a matrix form of the negative discrete Laplace operator on a graph approximating the negative continuous Laplacian obtained by the finite difference method. The Laplacian matrix relates to many useful properties of a graph.
Minimum spanning tree
A minimum spanning tree (MST) or minimum weight spanning tree is a subset of the edges of a connected, edge-weighted undirected graph that connects all the vertices together, without any cycles and with the minimum possible total edge weight. That is, it is a spanning tree whose sum of edge weights is as small as possible. More generally, any edge-weighted undirected graph (not necessarily connected) has a minimum spanning forest, which is a union of the minimum spanning trees for its connected components.
Topological graph theory
In mathematics, topological graph theory is a branch of graph theory. It studies the embedding of graphs in surfaces, spatial embeddings of graphs, and graphs as topological spaces. It also studies immersions of graphs. Embedding a graph in a surface means that we want to draw the graph on a surface, a sphere for example, without two edges intersecting. A basic embedding problem often presented as a mathematical puzzle is the three utilities problem.
Dual graph
In the mathematical discipline of graph theory, the dual graph of a planar graph G is a graph that has a vertex for each face of G. The dual graph has an edge for each pair of faces in G that are separated from each other by an edge, and a self-loop when the same face appears on both sides of an edge. Thus, each edge e of G has a corresponding dual edge, whose endpoints are the dual vertices corresponding to the faces on either side of e.
Complete bipartite graph
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a complete bipartite graph or biclique is a special kind of bipartite graph where every vertex of the first set is connected to every vertex of the second set. Graph theory itself is typically dated as beginning with Leonhard Euler's 1736 work on the Seven Bridges of Königsberg. However, drawings of complete bipartite graphs were already printed as early as 1669, in connection with an edition of the works of Ramon Llull edited by Athanasius Kircher.
Graphic matroid
In the mathematical theory of matroids, a graphic matroid (also called a cycle matroid or polygon matroid) is a matroid whose independent sets are the forests in a given finite undirected graph. The dual matroids of graphic matroids are called co-graphic matroids or bond matroids. A matroid that is both graphic and co-graphic is sometimes called a planar matroid (but this should not be confused with matroids of rank 3, which generalize planar point configurations); these are exactly the graphic matroids formed from planar graphs.
Cycle graph
In graph theory, a cycle graph or circular graph is a graph that consists of a single cycle, or in other words, some number of vertices (at least 3, if the graph is simple) connected in a closed chain. The cycle graph with n vertices is called C_n. The number of vertices in C_n equals the number of edges, and every vertex has degree 2; that is, every vertex has exactly two edges incident with it. There are many synonyms for "cycle graph".