Discrete Structures

Lecture Notes, 6 Dec 2010

Last Update: 6 December 2010

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Index to all lecture notes
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§9.1;
§9.5 to p. 640;
§9.6, esp. pp. 653–655:

Graphs (cont'd)


  1. Graphs can be used to model:

    1. computer networks

      1. including the Internet:

        • nodes = computers
          arcs = network connections

            or

        • nodes = local networks
          arcs = network connections to the Internet

      2. and the World Wide Web:

      3. and social networks

    2. tournaments:

      • a•→•b for: a beats b

    3. road maps

    4. words and their meanings

      • Let each vertex represent a word,
        and let each edge connect a word with the words in its definition

      • See Massé 2008

    5. the human brain (or the mind (via a "semantic network"))

    6. anything where ∃ binary relation:


  2. Euler Paths & Circuits:

    • pronounced "OILer"

    1. Read about the 7 bridges of Königsberg:

      • The K-Bridge graph:

        • Let nodes represent land, arcs represent bridges:

    2. Defs:

    3. More Defs:

      1. A connected graph =def
        a graph such that ¬∃ 2 subgraphs with no common edge.

      2. A multigraph =def a graph with duplicate edges

        • i.e.) some pairs of vertices are connected by ≥2 edges

      3. Let G=(V,E) be a graph.
        Let v ∈ V.
        Then degree(v) =def
        the number of edges with v as an endpoint

        • i.e.) degree(v) = |{e ∈ E | ∃v′[e = {v,v&prime}]}|

    4. Thm 1:

        A connected multigraph has an Euler circuit
        each vertex has even degree.

      1. e.g.)

      2. ∴ the Königsberg Bridge graph has no Euler circuit!

      3. Neither does:

    5. Thm 2:

        A connected multigraph has an Euler path
        (but no Euler circuit)
        it has exactly 2 vertices of odd degree


  3. Traveling Salesman Problem:

    1. Salesman wants to visit n cities exactly once each
      & return to starting point by shortest path
      (e.g., to save gas or time)
      (possibly traveling over same road >1 times)

      1. This is called a Hamiltonian circuit:

        • travel through every vertex exactly once
          & return to starting point

        • inspired by a wooden puzzle devised by Hamilton

      2. Compare Euler circuit:

        • travel through every edge exactly once, & return

      3. See articles by Brian Hayes, especially Hayes 2008.

    2. Fact 1:

        There are no known necessary & sufficient conditions for Hamiltonian circuits
        (as there are for Euler circuits)

    3. Fact 2:

        Let graph G have n vertices.
        Let v0 be the starting vertex.
        ∴ ∃ ≤ (n–1)! different H-circuits to examine.

        • ∃ ≤ n–1 choices for v1
        • ∃ ≤ n–2 choices for v2, etc.

        But can travel H-circuit in reverse order:

        • same trip, only backwards

        ∴ "only" need to examine ≤ (n–1)!/2 H-circuits to find shortest.

        But n=25 → need to examine 24!/2 ≈ 3.1*1023 circuits (in the worst case)!

        At 1 nanosecond/circuit (= 10–9sec/circuit), need ∼10,000,000 years!!

        • (actually, 9,837,144 years, 321 days, 4 hours, 48 minutes,
          but who's counting?)

    4. This is computable in theory

      • You could easily write a program to find all Hamiltonian circuits and then find the shortest.

      but not computable in practice

      • What does that mean exactly? Next time!


Next lecture…


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