Thought for the Day:

Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the LORD will all your heart and
do not rely on your own wisdom. In all your
ways acknowledge Him and he will reward
your efforts with success.”
 reminder
These PowerPoint slides are only
to be used by XU teachers and
students for educational purposes.
They must not be utilized or
shared outside of XU.
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this section, the students are expected to:

1.identify the number of vertices and edges of a

graph;
2.identify whether the graph is Eulerian or not;
3.solve optimization/scheduling problems using Euler
paths and circuits.
Think of all the various connections we
experience in our lives—friends are connected
on Facebook, cities are connected by roads,
computers are connected across the Internet.

A branch of mathematics called graph theory

illustrates and analyzes connections such as
these.
For example, the diagram in Figure 7.1.1 could
represent friends that are connected on
Facebook.

Figure 7.1.1
Each dot represents a person, and a line
segment connecting two dots means that those
two people are friends on Facebook. This type of
diagram is called a graph.

Definition 7.1.1 A graph is a set of points called

vertices and line segments or curves called edges
that connect vertices.
Example 7.1.1 The following table lists five
students at a college. An “X” indicates that the
two students participate in the same study
group this semester.
Matt Amber Oscar Laura Kayla
Matt X X
Amber X X X
Oscar X X
Laura X X
Kayla X
a. Draw a graph that represents this information
where each vertex represents a student, and
an edge connects two vertices if the
corresponding students study together.
b. Use your graph to answer the following
questions: Which student is involved in the
most study groups with the others? Which
student has only one study group in common
with the others? How many study groups does
Laura have in common with the others?
a. We draw five vertices (in any configuration
we wish) to represent the five students and
connect vertices with edges according to the
table.
b. The vertex corresponding to Amber is
connected to more edges than the others,
so she is involved with more study groups
(three) than the others.
Kayla is the only student with one study
group in common, as her vertex is the
only one connected to just one edge.
Laura’s vertex is connected to two edges,
so she shares two study groups with the
others.
In general, a graph can include vertices that
are not joined to any edges, but all edges
must begin and end at vertices. If two or more
edges connect the same vertices, they are
called multiple edges. If an edge begins and
ends at the same vertex, it is called the loop.
Definition 7.1.2 A graph is called connected if any
vertex can be reached from any other vertex by
tracing along edges. (Essentially, the graph
consists of one “piece.”)

Definition 7.1.3 A connected graph in which every

possible edge is drawn between vertices (without
any multiple edges) is called a complete graph.
This graph has five This is a connected graph that has a
vertices but no edges. It pair of multiple edges. Note that two
is not connected. edges cross in the center, but there
is no vertex there. Unless a dot is
drawn, the edges are considered to
pass over each other without
touching.
This graph is not connected; This is a complete graph
it consists of two different with five vertices.
sections. It also contains a
loop.
Consequently, the three graphs shown below are
considered equivalent graphs because the edges
form the same connections of vertices in each
graph.
Example 7.1.2 Determine whether the
following two graphs are equivalent.
Even though the two graphs have different
arrangements of vertices and edges, they
are equivalent.
To illustrate, we examine the edges of each
graph. The first graph contains six edges; we
can list them by indicating which two vertices
they connect.
The edges are AC, AE, BD, BE, CE, and DE.
If we do the same for the second graph, we
get the same six edges.
Because the two graphs represent the same
connections among the vertices, they are
equivalent.
Euler Circuits
 KONIGSBERG BRIDGES PROBLEM
KONIGSBERG BRIDGES PROBLEM
It’s a puzzle concerning a city, an island and seven
bridges. In Euler’s day, this region belonged to the
Kingdom of Prussia, the river was called the Pregel and
the city was known as Konigsberg. Various parts of the
city, including the island of Kneiphof, were joined by
bridges named (a) Green (b) Connecting (c) Merchants
(d) Blacksmith (e) Honey (f) High and (g) Wooden. The
legend has it that citizen’s would try to walk through
town and return home by crossing each bridge exactly
once. Every attempt resulted in the omission of some
bridges or the multiple crossing of some bridges. The
Seven Bridges of Konigsberg problem achieved some
notoriety and eventually attracted Euler’s attention.
To solve the Königsberg bridges problem, we
can represent the arrangement of land areas
and bridges with a graph.

Figure 7.1.2
Let each land area be represented by a vertex
and connect two vertices if there is a bridge
spanning the corresponding land areas.

Figure 7.1.2
Figure 7.1.3
Definition 7.1.4 A path in a graph can be thought
of as a movement from one vertex to another by
traversing edges.

We can refer to our movement

by vertex letters. For example,
in the graph in Figure 6.1.3,
one path would be A–B–A–C.

Figure 7.1.3
If a path ends at the same vertex at which it
started, it is considered a closed path, or circuit.
For the graph in Figure 7.1.5, the path A–D–F–
G–E–B–A is a circuit because it begins and ends
at the same vertex.

Figure 7.1.5
The path A–D–F–G–E–H is not a circuit, as the
path ends at a different vertex than the one it
started at.

Figure 6.1.5
 Definition 7.1.5 A circuit that uses every edge,
but never uses the same edge twice, is called an
Euler circuit.

The path may cross through vertices more than

once.
The path B–D–F–G–H–E–C–B–A–D–G–E–B in
Figure 6.1.5 is a Euler circuit. It begins and ends
at the same vertex and uses each edge exactly
once. (Trace the path with your pencil to verify!)
The path A–B–C–E–H–G–E–B–D–A is not an
Euler circuit.

Figure 7.1.5
The path begins and ends at the same vertex, but it
does not use edges DF, DG, or FG.
Euler essentially proved that the graph
in Figure 6.1.3 could not have an Euler
circuit. He accomplished this by
examining the number of edges that
met at each vertex.
Figure 7.1.3

Definition 7.1.5 The number of edges that meet

at a vertex is called the degree of a vertex.
He saw that in order to complete the desired
path, every time you approached a vertex you
would then need to leave that vertex.
If you traveled through that vertex again, you
would again need an approaching edge and a
departing edge.
Thus for an Euler circuit to exist, the degree of
every vertex would have to be an even
number.
Furthermore, he was able to show that any
graph that has even degree at every vertex must
have an Euler circuit. Consequently, such graphs
are called Eulerian.
Theorem 7.1.1 (Eulerian Graph Theorem) A
connected graph is Eulerian if and only if every
vertex of the graph is of even degree.
Example 7.1.3 Which of the following graphs
has an Euler circuit?
a. b.
a. Vertices C and D are of odd degree.
By the Eulerian Graph Theorem, the
graph does not have an Euler circuit.
b. All vertices are of even degree.
By the Eulerian Graph Theorem,
the graph has an Euler circuit.
The Eulerian Graph Theorem guarantees
that when all vertices of a graph have an
even degree, an Euler circuit exists, but it
does not tell us how to find one.
Because the graphs we will examine here
are relatively small, we will rely on trial and
error to find Euler circuits.
There is a systematic method, called Fleury’s
algorithm, that can be used to find Euler circuits
in graphs with large numbers of vertices.
Example 7.1.4 Determine whether the graph
shown below is Eulerian. If it is, find an Euler
circuit. If it is not, explain how you know.
Each vertex is of even degree (2, 4, or 6), so
by the Eulerian graph theorem, the graph is
Eulerian. There are many possible Euler
circuits in this graph.
We do not have a formal method of locating
one, but by trial and error, one Euler circuit
is B–A–F–B–E–F–G–E–D–G–B–D–C–B.
Euler Paths
Perhaps the Königsberg bridges
problem would have a solution if we
did not need to return to the starting
point. In this case, what we are
looking for in Figure 6.1.3 is a path
(not necessarily a circuit) that uses
every edge once and only once.
Figure 7.1.3
We call such a path an Euler
path. Euler showed that even
with this relaxed condition, the
bridge problem still was not
solvable.

Figure 7.1.3
The general result of his argument is given in the
following theorem.
Theorem 7.1.2 (Euler Path Theorem). A
connected graph contains an Euler path if and
only if the graph has two vertices of odd degree
with all other vertices of even degree.
Furthermore, every Euler path must start at one
of the vertices of odd degree and end at the
other.
Example 7.1.5 A photographer would like to travel
across all the roads shown on the following map.
The photographer will rent a car that need
not be returned to the same city, so the trip
can begin in any city. Is it possible for the
photographer to design a trip that traverses
all the roads exactly once?
Looking at the map of roads as a graph, we see
that a route that includes all the roads but does
not cover any road twice corresponds to an
Euler path of the graph.
Notice that only two vertices are of odd degree,
the cities Alameda and Dover. Thus, we know
that an Euler path exists, and so it is possible
for the photographer to plan a route that travels
each road once.
Because (abbreviating the cities) A and D
are vertices of odd degree, the photographer
must start at one of these cities. With a little
experimentation, we find that one Euler path
is A–B–C–D–B–F–A–G–F–E–D.
EXERCISE SET 7.1

1. In the following graph, determine (a) the number of edges in the

graph, (b) the number of vertices, (c) the number of vertices that are of
odd degree, (d) whether it is connected, and (e) whether it is complete.
2. Explain why the following two graphs cannot be equivalent.
3. Label the vertices of the second graph so that it is equivalent to the first
graph.
REFERENCES
1. Aufmann, R.N.(2018). Mathematics in the Modern World. Rex Book
Store, Inc.
2. Rosen, K. (2011). Discrete Mathematics and its Applications, Seventh
Edition. The McGraw Hill Companies.
3. Bondy, J. (1976). Graph Theory and with Applications. North Holland
Publishing Corporation. 
4. Daligdig, R.M. (2019). Mathematics in the Modern World. Lorimar
Publishing, Inc.
5. Carpio, J.N. and Peralta, B.D. (2018). Mathematics in the Modern World.
Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.
6. Olejan, R.O., Veloria, E.V., Bonghanoy, G.B., Ondaro, J.E.,and
Sumalinog, J.D. (2018). Mathematics in the Modern World. MUTYA
Publishing House, Inc.
7. Manlulu, E.A. and Hipolito, L.M. (2019). A Course Module for
Mathematics in the Modern World. Rex Book Store, Inc.