Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

(43) Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (a) If G is a co

ID: 3148011 • Letter: #

Question

(43) Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (a) If G is a connected simple graph and e is an edge of G, then there is a (b) IfG is a connected simple graph and e and f are edges of G, then there (c) If G is a connected simple graph and e, f and g are edges of G, then (d) If G is a connected simple graph and F is a cycle-free set of edges in spanning tree of G that contains e. is a spanning tree of G that contains e and f. there is a spanning tree of G that contains e,fand g. G, then there is a spanning tree of G that contains F.

Explanation / Answer

Both are true

a) Find any spanning tree T. Now add edge e to T. This forms a cycle C. Delete an edge g from the cycle from T+e. Now T+e-g is still connected (deleting an edge from a cycle cannot disconnect you) but now has the same number of edges as T. So T+e-g must also be a spanning tree.

b) Do the stuff in part a to find a tree T with edge e. Now add in f, forming a cycle in T+f. Choose an edge h in the cycle that is not e. so T+f-h is a spanning tree with e and f.

Now to prove that we can find an edge h, suppose we cannot. Then the cycle can only have edges e and f. But that means that e and f connect the same pair of vertices... which is impossible in a simple graph.