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C8.4 Problems1

This document contains a summary of probabilistic combinatorics problems and techniques. It covers topics like the first and second moment methods, thresholds for graph properties, and using factorial moments to calculate probabilities. The document is divided into sections covering problems on graph partitioning, dominating sets in graphs, sparse matrices, independent sets in graphs, graph coloring, isolated vertices in random graphs, arithmetic progressions in random sets, and binomial coefficients.

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Mihnea-Gabriel Doica
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13 views

C8.4 Problems1

This document contains a summary of probabilistic combinatorics problems and techniques. It covers topics like the first and second moment methods, thresholds for graph properties, and using factorial moments to calculate probabilities. The document is divided into sections covering problems on graph partitioning, dominating sets in graphs, sparse matrices, independent sets in graphs, graph coloring, isolated vertices in random graphs, arithmetic progressions in random sets, and binomial coefficients.

Uploaded by

Mihnea-Gabriel Doica
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C8.

4 Probabilistic Combinatorics
Sheet 1 — HT23
First moment method; second moment and thresholds

Section A
1. Show that for r ⩾ 2, any graph G contains an r-partite subgraph H with e(H) ⩾
r−1
r
e(G). [Hint: randomly assign each vertex to a part.]

Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford Page 1 of 4


Oliver Riordan: [email protected]
C8.4 Probabilistic Combinatorics: Sheet 1 — HT23

Section B
2. A dominating set in a graph G = (V, E) is a set U ⊆ V such that every vertex v ∈ V is
either in U or has a neighbour in U .
Suppose that |V | = n and that G has minimum degree δ ⩾ 2. Choose a subset X of
V by including each vertex independently with probability p. Let Y be the set of all
vertices which are not in X and which have no neighbour in X.
Show that E[|X ∪ Y |] ⩽ np + ne−p(δ+1) . What can you say about the set X ∪ Y ?
By optimizing over p, show that the graph G has a dominating set which contains at
most n 1+log(δ+1)
δ+1
vertices.

3. For n, r ∈ N, 1 < r < n, let z(r, n) be the largest possible number of 0 entries in an
n × n matrix which has no r × r submatrix whose entries are all 0. (Here a submatrix
is obtained by selecting any r rows and any r columns; the rows/columns need not be
consecutive.)
Consider a random matrix in which each entry is 0 with probability p and 1 with
probability 1 − p, independently. What is the expected number of entries which are 0?
What is the expected number of r × r submatrices which are “all 0”?
2
Deduce that z(r, n) > pn2 − pr n2r .
Optimize over p to find the best lower bound on z(r, n) that you can, for fixed r and
large n.

4. Let G be a graph with n vertices, and let dv denote the degree of vertex v.
(a) Consider a random ordering of V = V (G) (chosen uniformly from all n! possibili-
ties). What is the probability that v precedes all its neighbours in the ordering?
(b) Show that G has an independent set of size at least v∈V dv1+1 .
P

(c) Deduce that any graph with n vertices and m edges has an independent set of size
n2
at least 2m+n
.

5. (Harder!) Let G be a bipartite graph with n vertices. Suppose each vertex v has a list
S(v) of more than log2 n colours associated to it. Show that there is a proper colouring
of G in which each vertex v receives a colour from its list S(v).

Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford Page 2 of 4


Oliver Riordan: [email protected]
C8.4 Probabilistic Combinatorics: Sheet 1 — HT23

log n+f (n)


6. Let p = p(n) = n
. Show that if f (n) → ∞ then the probability that G(n, p)
contains an isolated vertex tends to 0, and that if f (n) → −∞ then this probability tends
to 1. [Hint. Apply the first and second moment methods to the number X of isolated
vertices. We may assume (why?) that |f (n)| is not too large, say |f (n)| ⩽ log n. Also,
2)
it may be useful to note that 1 − p = e−p+O(p as p → 0.]
(This shows in particular that p∗ (n) = log n/n is a threshold function for G(n, p) to
have minimum degree at least 1.)

7. Let Sn,p be a random subset of {1, 2, . . . , n} chosen by including each element indepen-
dently with probability p.
(a) Show that p = n−2/3 is a threshold function for the property “Sn,p contains an
arithmetic progression of length 3”.
(b) Show that for k ⩾ 3 fixed, p = n−2/k is a threshold function for Sn,p to contain an
arithmetic progression of length k.

8. Use Stirling’s Formula to show that if n, k → ∞ with k 2 = o(n), then


 
n 1  en k
∼√ .
k 2πk k

Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford Page 3 of 4


Oliver Riordan: [email protected]
C8.4 Probabilistic Combinatorics: Sheet 1 — HT23

Section C
These questions are optional, but MFoCS students are recommended to at-
tempt them. Outline solutions will be provided later; you can also approach
class tutors (if they have time) or the lecturer to discuss them.
The rth (falling) factorial moment of a random variable X is defined to be

Er [X] = E[X(X − 1) · · · (X − r + 1)].

9. Let X be a random variable taking values in {0, 1, . . . , n}. Show that


n
X Er [X]
P(X = 0) = (−1)r ,
r=0
r!

and that the sum satisfies the alternating inequalities (see sheet 0). [ Hint: write X as
a sum of indicator variables. ]
For you to think about: what can you say if X is unbounded, taking values in the
non-negative integers?

10. In the setting of the previous question, state and prove an analogous formula for P(X =
k) in terms of factorial moments.

Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford Page 4 of 4


Oliver Riordan: [email protected]

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