Review the key concepts, formulae, and examples before starting your quiz.
🔑Concepts
A Network (or Graph) consists of a set of points called Nodes (or Vertices) and connections called Edges (undirected) or Arcs (directed).
The Degree (or Valency) of a node, denoted by , is the number of edges connected to it. For directed arcs, we distinguish between 'in-degree' and 'out-degree'.
A Walk is a sequence of edges where the end of one edge is the start of the next. A Path is a walk where no node is visited more than once.
A Cycle is a closed path where the start and end nodes are the same, and no other nodes are repeated.
A Tree is a connected network with no cycles. A Spanning Tree is a subgraph that includes all nodes of the original network and is a tree.
A network is Planar if it can be drawn in a plane without any edges crossing each other.
The Handshaking Lemma states that the sum of the degrees of all nodes is exactly twice the number of edges: .
📐Formulae
💡Examples
Problem 1:
A network has nodes with degrees and . Calculate the number of edges in this network.
Solution:
Using the Handshaking Lemma: Since :
Explanation:
The sum of all node degrees is always twice the number of edges because every edge contributes one degree to each of the two nodes it connects.
Problem 2:
Determine if a simple graph can exist with nodes where the degrees are and .
Solution:
Sum of degrees: According to the Handshaking Lemma, the sum of degrees must be an even number because .
Explanation:
Since is an odd number, it is impossible to have a graph with these specific degrees. The number of nodes with odd degrees must always be even.
Problem 3:
In a connected planar network, there are nodes and edges. How many faces () does the network have?
Solution:
Using Euler's Formula: Substitute the given values:
Explanation:
Substitute the number of nodes () and edges () into the formula and solve for .