Existence of an edge that is contained in at least two cycles Let G be a graph with n vertices and

Kapalci

Kapalci

Answered question

2022-06-24

Existence of an edge that is contained in at least two cycles
Let G be a graph with n vertices and 3 n 2 edges. Prove that there exists an edge in G that is contained in at least two different cycles.
My approach: Consider G. Pick a random edge. Let X(e) be the number of cycles that contain e. Somehow show that E [ X ] > 1. Then there exists an e such that X ( e ) 2.
Does this probabilistic method approach work?
Edit: I would like to add that for a graph G with n vertices and m edges, one can find an edge that is present in multiple cycles, or identify if there is none, in O ( m 2 ( m + n ) ) time with multiple DFS's.

Answer & Explanation

Blaze Frank

Blaze Frank

Beginner2022-06-25Added 18 answers

Step 1
Suppose ever two cycles are edge disjunct and suppose these cycles are C 1 , C 2 , . . . C k . Then | C 1 | + . . . + | C k | ε and since each cycle has at least 3 edges we have 3 k ε.
Step 2
Let F be spanned forest in G. Then each edge in G∖F lies in exactly one cycle and each cycle contains exactly one edge in G∖F, so we have k ε ( n 1 ). So we have
3 ε 3 ( n 1 ) ε ε 3 n 3 2 .
fabios3

fabios3

Beginner2022-06-26Added 10 answers

Step 1
Let G have E edges and k components and suppose that no edge is in two distinct cycles.
The number of edges in a spanning forest F for G is n k. Let e be any of the remaining E n + k edges.
Step 2
The graph formed by adding e to F must contain a cycle.This cycle must contain at least two edges of F. Since we can do this for each of the extra E n + k edges, we must have
n k 2 ( E n + k ) .
Then E 3 ( n k ) 2 < 3 n 2

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