Prove that no graph has exactly 2 spanning trees. This question is why I must go second time to the

Desirae Washington

Desirae Washington

Answered question

2022-07-09

Prove that no graph has exactly 2 spanning trees.
This question is why I must go second time to the final exam in discrete mathematics.
The original question was:
For which n exists a graph with n spanning trees?
I know, that for n > 2 there exists a graph with n spanning trees, because if we take C 3 , which is a cycle with 3 vertices, it has exactly 3 spanning trees. Cycle on 4 vertices has 4 spanning trees and so on. I know that if a graph is not connected, than it has 0 spanning trees, and if I have a graph on 1 vertex, it has exactly 1 spanning tree.
So the question remains, how do I prove, that no graph exists, which has exactly 2 spanning trees.

Answer & Explanation

Keegan Barry

Keegan Barry

Beginner2022-07-10Added 18 answers

Step 1
Then here is more detailed reasoning that there is no simple graph that has exactly two spanning trees.
1. If a graph is not connected, then it has 0 spanning trees.
2. If the graph is connected and has no cycles then the graph is a tree. In this case the graph has exactly one spanning tree. This tree is the graph itself.
3. If graph G is connected and has cycles, then it has a spanning tree T, which is obtained by removing some edges of G. Let e be an edge of graph G which is not included in the tree T. Then the graph T + e has exactly one cycle. This cycle has at least two more edges besides e. Let these edges be e′ and e′′. Then T = T + e e and T + e e are ostensive trees of G. Thus we have at least three different spanning trees T, T′, T′′ of graph G.
Step 2
Since any graph with non-empty set of vertices has one of these three types, we proved that there is no simple graph with exactly two spanning trees.

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