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    Chrpoly

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    This document provides an example of an induction proof showing that the chromatic polynomial is indeed a polynomial. It begins by defining the chromatic function χ(G) as counting the number of ways to properly color the vertices of a graph G with x possible colors. The proof then establishes three theorems as building blocks: 1) the sum and difference of polynomials are polynomials, 2) the chromatic function of an empty graph is x^k, and 3) the chromatic function of a graph G can be expressed in terms of the chromatic functions of G-e and G/e, where e is an edge. Finally, it completes the induction proof by showing that if the chromatic function is a polynomial for graphs

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    Chrpoly

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    This document provides an example of an induction proof showing that the chromatic polynomial is indeed a polynomial. It begins by defining the chromatic function χ(G) as counting the number of ways to properly color the vertices of a graph G with x possible colors. The proof then establishes three theorems as building blocks: 1) the sum and difference of polynomials are polynomials, 2) the chromatic function of an empty graph is x^k, and 3) the chromatic function of a graph G can be expressed in terms of the chromatic functions of G-e and G/e, where e is an edge. Finally, it completes the induction proof by showing that if the chromatic function is a polynomial for graphs

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    This document provides an example of an induction proof showing that the chromatic polynomial is indeed a polynomial. It begins by defining the chromatic function χ(G) as counting the number of ways to properly color the vertices of a graph G with x possible colors. The proof then establishes three theorems as building blocks: 1) the sum and difference of polynomials are polynomials, 2) the chromatic function of an empty graph is x^k, and 3) the chromatic function of a graph G can be expressed in terms of the chromatic functions of G-e and G/e, where e is an edge. Finally, it completes the induction proof by showing that if the chromatic function is a polynomial for graphs

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    43 views2 pages

    Chrpoly

    Uploaded by

    shivu_bn5341
    This document provides an example of an induction proof showing that the chromatic polynomial is indeed a polynomial. It begins by defining the chromatic function χ(G) as counting the number of ways to properly color the vertices of a graph G with x possible colors. The proof then establishes three theorems as building blocks: 1) the sum and difference of polynomials are polynomials, 2) the chromatic function of an empty graph is x^k, and 3) the chromatic function of a graph G can be expressed in terms of the chromatic functions of G-e and G/e, where e is an edge. Finally, it completes the induction proof by showing that if the chromatic function is a polynomial for graphs

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    An Example of Induction: Chromatic

    Polynomials
    Art Duval
    University of Texas at El Paso
    April 15, 2005

    1 Introduction
    This short document is an example of an induction proof. Our goal is to
    show that the chromatic polynomial really is a polynomial; therefore, from
    now on, we will call it the chromatic function (to emphasize that we don’t
    know yet that it is a polynomial), and denote it by χ(G).
    More formally, then, if G is a graph, we define χ(G, x) (which we will
    usually abbreviate as χ(G)) to be the function with variable x whose value
    is given by the number of ways to properly color the vertices of G with x
    possible colors.

    2 Background material
    The following results are the building blocks of our induction. Since you
    should have seen them before, or should be able to easily prove them, only
    the barest hints of proof are provided.
    Theorem 1. If p and q are each polynomials (in x), then so are p + q and
    p − q.
    Proof. This is also an induction proof, on the degree of the polynomials.
    After you undertand the proof the chromatic polynomial, you might want to
    come back and prove this result carefully, for further practice with induction.
    Note that once you prove the result for p + q, it is easy to prove it for p − q,
    by writing p − q = p + (−q).

    1
    Theorem 2. If G is the empty graph on k vertices, then χ(G) = xk .
    Proof. This is an easy counting argument about the chromatic function.
    Recall from class (or the textbook) that, for e and edge of graph G, the
    deletion of e from G, denoted by G − e, is the graph we obtain from G simply
    by removing edge e from G.
    Similarly, the contraction of e from G, denoted by G/e, is the graph we
    obtain from G by “contracting” the edge e. That is, merge the two vertices
    u, v that are the endpoints of e into a single vertex, which has an edge to all
    the other vertices that had an edge with u or v in the original graph G. (This
    can be defined more formally, but is besides the point of this short note.)
    Theorem 3. If e is an edge of the graph G, then
    χ(G) = χ(G − e) − χ(G/e).
    Proof. We did this in class; it is also explained in the textbook.

    3 The Induction Proof


    Now we are ready to use induction to prove our main result.
    Theorem 4. For any graph G, the chromatic function χ(G) is a polynomial.
    Proof. Proof by induction on the number of edges.
    Base case. The fewest number of edges G could have is zero. In this case,
    by Theorem 2, χ(G) = xk , for some k, so χ(G) is a polynomial.
    Induction step. Now assume that, if G0 is a graph with fewer than n
    edges, then χ(G0 ) is a polynomial. [Note: Since we assume the theorem is
    true for all numbers of edges less than n, some people refer to this as “strong
    induction”; “weak induction” would be if we only assumed the theorem were
    true for n − 1. In practice, most mathematicians do not worry about this
    distinction.]
    Let G be a graph with n edges. By Theorem 3, χ(G) = χ(G−e)−χ(G/e).
    Now notice that G − e and G/e each have fewer edges than G (in fact, G − e
    has one fewer edge, namely e, but G/e may be missing more edges, if the
    endpoints of e had any common neighbors – try some examples!), and so
    each has fewer than n edges. By the induction hypothesis, then, χ(G − e)
    and χ(G/e) are each polynomials. And then, by Theorem 1, so is χ(G).

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