Exercise · ZW-BIPARTITE-GRAPH-010 · ★★★ Advanced

Can a graph with 9 vertices and 21 edges be bipartite?

Choose one option.

Show answer
  • B. No: a bipartite graph on 9 vertices has at most 20 edges

Explanation

With parts \(a\) and \(9-a\) there is room for \(a(9-a)\le 4\cdot5=20\) edges, so 21 is impossible. \(K_{4,5}\) has exactly 20.

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Review the concept: Bipartite graph

A bipartite graph is a graph \(G=(V,E)\) whose vertices split into two disjoint sets \(A\) and \(B\) so that every edge \(e\in E\) joins a vertex of \(A\) to one of \(B\).

\[V=A\cup B,\quad A\cap B=\varnothing,\quad |e\cap A|=1\ \text{ for every } e\in E\]

More practice problems: bipartite graph

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