Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics

Editors
s. Axler
F.W. Gehring
K.A. Ribet
Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics

Abbott: Understanding Analysis. Childs: A Concrete Introduction to

Anglin: Mathematics: A Concise History Higher Algebra. Second edition.
and Philosophy. Chung: Elementary Probability Theory
Readings in Mathematics. with Stochastic Processes. Third
Anglin/Lambek: The Heritage of edition.
Thales. Cox/Little/O'Shea: Ideals, Varieties,
Readings in Mathematics. and Algorithms. Second edition.
Apostol: Introduction to Analytic Croom: Basic Concepts of Algebraic
Number Theory. Second edition. Topology.
Armstrong: Basic Topology. Curtis: Linear Algebra: An Introductory
Armstrong: Groups and Symmetry. Approach. Fourth edition.
Axler: Linear Algebra Done Right. Devlin: The Joy of Sets: Fundamentals
Second edition. of Contemporary Set Theory.
Beardon: Limits: A New Approach to Second edition.
Real Analysis. Dixmier: General Topology.
BaklNewman: Complex Analysis. Driver: Why Math?
Second edition. EbbinghauslFlumlThomas:
BanchofflWermer: Linear Algebra Mathematical Logic. Second edition.
Through Geometry. Second edition. Edgar: Measure, Topology, and Fractal
Berberian: A First Course in Real Geometry.
Analysis. Elaydi: An Introduction to Difference
Bix: Conics and Cubics: A Equations. Second edition.
Concrete Introduction to Algebraic Erdos/Suninyi: Topics in the Theory of
Curves. Numbers.
Bremaud: An Introduction to Estep: Practical Analysis in One Variable.
Probabilistic Modeling. Exner: An Accompaniment to Higher
Bressoud: Factorization and Primality Mathematics.
Testing. Exner: Inside Calculus.
Bressoud: Second Year Calculus. FinelRosenberger: The Fundamental
Readings in Mathematics. Theory of Algebra.
Brickman: Mathematical Introduction Fischer: Intermediate Real Analysis.
to Linear Programming and Game Flanigan/Kazdan: Calculus Two: Linear
Theory. and Nonlinear Functions. Second
Browder: Mathematical Analysis: edition.
An Introduction. Fleming: Functions of Several Variables.
Buchmann: Introduction to Second edition.
Cryptography. Foulds: Combinatorial Optimization for
Buskes/van Rooij: Topological Spaces: Undergraduates.
From Distance to Neighborhood. Foulds: Optimization Techniques: An
Callahan: The Geometry of Spacetime: Introduction.
An Introduction to Special and General Franklin: Methods of Mathematical
Relavitity. Economics.
Carter/van Brunt: The Lebesgue- Frazier: An Introduction to Wavelets
Stieltjes Integral: A Practical Through Linear Algebra.
Introduction.
Cederberg: A Course in Modern
Geometries. Second edition. (continued after index)
L. Lovasz
J. Pelikan
K. vesztergombi

Discrete Mathenlatics
Elementary and Beyond

With 95 Illustrations

~ Springer
L. Lovasz J. Pelikan
Microsoft Corporation Department of Algebra
Microsoft Research and Number Theory
One Microsoft Way Eotvos Lorand University
Redmond, WA 98052-6399 Pazmany Peter Setany lIC
USA Budapest H-l117
lovasz@microsoft.com Hungary
pelikan@cs.eltc.hu

K. Vesztergombi
Department of Mathematics
University of Washington
Box 354-350
Seattle, WA 98195-4350
USA
veszter@math.washington.edu

Editorial Board
S. Axler F. W. Gehring K. A. Ribet
Mathematics Department Mathematics Department Mathematics Department
San Francisco State East Hall University of California,
University University of Michigan Berkeley
San Francisco, CA 94132 Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Berkeley, CA 94720-3840
USA USA USA
axler@sfsu.edu fgehring@math.lsa.umich.edu ribet@math.berkeley.edu

Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 28-01, 30-01

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lovasz, LaszI6,1948-
Discrete mathematics I Laszl6 Lovasz, 16zsef Pelikan, Katalin L. Vesztergombi.
p. cm. - (Undergraduate texts in mathematics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-387-95585-8 ISBN 978-0-387-21777-2 (eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-0-387-21777-2

1. Mathematics. 2. Computer science-Mathematics. I. Pelikan, 16zsef

II. Vesztergombi, Katalin L. III. Title. III. Series.
QA39.3.L682003
51O-dc21 2002030585

Printed on acid-free paper.

© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Preface

For most students, the first and often only course in college mathematics
is calculus. It is true that calculus is the single most important field of
mathematics, whose emergence in the seventeenth century signaled the
birth of modern mathematics and was the key to the successful applications
of mathematics in the sciences and engineering.
But calculus (or analysis) is also very technical. It takes a lot of work
even to introduce its fundamental notions like continuity and the derivative
(after all, it took two centuries just to develop the proper definition of these
notions). To get a feeling for the power of its methods, say by describing
one of its important applications in detail, takes years of study.
If you want to become a mathematician, computer scientist, or engineer,
this investment is necessary. But if your goal is to develop a feeling for what
mathematics is all about, where mathematical methods can be helpful, and
what kinds of questions do mathematicians work on, you may want to look
for the answer in some other fields of mathematics.
There are many success stories of applied mathematics outside calculus.
A recent hot topic is mathematical cryptography, which is based on number
theory (the study of the positive integers 1,2,3, ... ), and is widely applied,
for example, in computer security and electronic banking. Other important
areas in applied mathematics are linear programming, coding theory, and
the theory of computing. The mathematical content in these applications
is collectively called discrete mathematics. (The word "discrete" is used in
the sense of "separated from each other," the opposite of "continuous;" it is
also often used in the more restrictive sense of "finite." The more everyday
version of this word, meaning "circumspect," is spelled "discreet.")
vi Preface

The aim of this book is not to cover "discrete mathematics" in depth

(it should be clear from the description above that such a task would be
ill-defined and impossible anyway). Rather, we discuss a number of selected
results and methods, mostly from the areas of combinatorics and graph the-
ory, with a little elementary number theory, probability, and combinatorial
geometry.
It is important to realize that there is no mathematics without proofs.
Merely stating the facts, without saying something about why these facts
are valid, would be terribly far from the spirit of mathematics and would
make it impossible to give any idea about how it works. Thus, wherever
possible, we will give the proofs of the theorems we state. Sometimes this
is not possible; quite simple, elementary facts can be extremely difficult to
prove, and some such proofs may take advanced courses to go through. In
these cases, we will at least state that the proof is highly technical and goes
beyond the scope of this book.
Another important ingredient of mathematics is problem solving. You
won't be able to learn any mathematics without dirtying your hands and
trying out the ideas you learn about in the solution of problems. To some,
this may sound frightening, but in fact, most people pursue this type of
activity almost every day: Everybody who plays a game of chess or solves
a puzzle is solving discrete mathematical problems. The reader is strongly
advised to answer the questions posed in the text and to go through the
problems at the end of each chapter of this book. Treat it as puzzle solving,
and if you find that some idea that you came up with in the solution plays
some role later, be satisfied that you are beginning to get the essence of
how mathematics develops.
We hope that we can illustrate that mathematics is a building, where
results are built on earlier results, often going back to the great Greek
mathematicians; that mathematics is alive, with more new ideas and more
pressing unsolved problems than ever; and that mathematics is also an art,
where the beauty of ideas and methods is as important as their difficulty
or applicability.

Lasz16 Lovasz J6zsef Pelikan Katalin Vesztergombi

Contents

Preface v

1 Let's Count! 1
1.1 A Party 1
1.2 Sets and the Like . 4
1.3 The Number of Subsets 9
1.4 The Approximate Number of Subsets. 14
1.5 Sequences 15
1.6 Permutations 17
1.7 The Number of Ordered Subsets 19
1.8 The Number of Subsets of a Given Size 20

2 Combinatorial Tools 25
2.1 Induction 25
2.2 Comparing and Estimating Numbers 30
2.3 Inclusion-Exclusion. 32
2.4 Pigeonholes 34
2.5 The Twin Paradox and the Good Old Logarithm 37

3 Binomial Coefficients and Pascal's Triangle 43

3.1 The Binomial Theorem 43
3.2 Distributing Presents. 45
3.3 Anagrams 46
3.4 Distributing Money. 48
viii Contents

3.5 Pascal's Triangle . . . . . . . . . . .. 49

3.6 Identities in Pascal's Triangle . . . .. 50
3.7 A Bird's-Eye View of Pascal's Triangle 54
3.8 An Eagle's-Eye View: Fine Details 57

4 Fibonacci Numbers 65
4.1 Fibonacci's Exercise . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.2 Lots ofIdentities . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.3 A Formula for the Fibonacci Numbers 71

5 Combinatorial Probability 77
5.1 Events and Probabilities . 77
5.2 Independent Repetition of an Experiment 79
5.3 The Law of Large Numbers . . . . . . . . 80
5.4 The Law of Small Numbers and the Law of Very Large Num-
bers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 83

6 Integers, Divisors, and Primes 87

6.1 Divisibility of Integers .. 87
6.2 Primes and Their History 88
6.3 Factorization into Primes 90
6.4 On the Set of Primes . . . 93
6.5 Fermat's "Little" Theorem 97
6.6 The Euclidean Algorithm 99
6.7 Congruences......... 105
6.8 Strange Numbers . . . . . . 107
6.9 Number Theory and Combinatorics . 114
6.10 How to Test Whether a Number is a Prime? . 117

7 Graphs 125
7.1 Even and Odd Degrees . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.2 Paths, Cycles, and Connectivity . . . . . 130
7.3 Eulerian Walks and Hamiltonian Cycles 135

8 Trees 141
8.1 How to Define Trees 141
8.2 How to Grow Trees . 143
8.3 How to Count Trees? . 146
8.4 How to Store Trees . . 148
8.5 The Number of Unlabeled Trees 153

9 Finding the Optimum 157

9.1 Finding the Best Tree . . . . . . 157
9.2 The Traveling Salesman Problem 161

10 Matchings in Graphs 165

 Contents ix

10.1 A Dancing Problem . . . . 165

10.2 Another matching problem 167
10.3 The Main Theorem . . . . . 169
10.4 How to Find a Perfect Matching 171

11 Combinatorics in Geometry 179

11.1 Intersections of Diagonals 179
11.2 Counting regions 181
11.3 Convex Polygons 184

12 Euler's Formula 189

12.1 A Planet Under Attack 189
12.2 Planar Graphs . . . . . 192
12.3 Euler's Formula for Polyhedra. 194

13 Coloring Maps and Graphs 197

13.1 Coloring Regions with Two Colors 197
13.2 Coloring Graphs with Two Colors 199
13.3 Coloring graphs with many colors. 202
13.4 Map Coloring and the Four Color Theorem 204

14 Finite Geometries, Codes,

Latin Squares,
and Other Pretty Creatures 211
14.1 Small Exotic Worlds . . . . 211
14.2 Finite Affine and Projective Planes 217
14.3 Block Designs .. 220
14.4 Steiner Systems. 224
14.5 Latin Squares 229
14.6 Codes . . . . . . 232

15 A Glimpse of Complexity and Cryptography 239

15.1 A Connecticut Class in King Arthur's Court. 239
15.2 Classical Cryptography . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
15.3 How to Save the Last Move in Chess . . . . . 244
15.4 How to Verify a Password-Without Learning it 246
15.5 How to Find These Primes 246
15.6 Public Key Cryptography 247

16 Answers to Exercises 251

Index 287