0 0 to 1 0 9 + 6 10^9+6

Let G n G_n be an undirected graph of n n rows with the particular triangular structure.

In the figure above is described G 3 G_3 .

Let t n t_n be the minimum number of edges to remove to G n G_n to make it bipartite .

What is t 1 0 9 + 8 m o d ( 1 0 9 + 7 ) ? t_{10^9+8} \bmod {(10^9+7)} ?


The answer is 0.

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1 solution

Peter Macgregor
Feb 20, 2016

My solution is based on an idea from the Wikipedia article -

A bipartite has no odd cycles \boxed{\text{A bipartite has no odd cycles}}

Our graph is made up of lots of little 3 vertex triangles. If we look only at those which are the right way up, (in other words they are not balanced on a vertex), we can see that none of the little right way up triangles have an edge in common. So we must remove one edge from each of these little triangles to avoid 3 cycles.

Let's choose to remove the horizontal edge in each little triangle. As an unexpected bonus notice that there are now no odd cycles of any order! This is because as we step along an edge of any cycle in the depleted graph we must move up or down a row (because the horizontal edges have been removed we cannot stay on the same row). To get back where we started the number of steps up must equal the number of steps down, and so the total number of steps must be even. So we do not need to remove any more edges to avoid odd cycles.

Therefore t n t_n is the number of horizontal edges in G n = 1 + 2 + ( n 1 ) = n ( n 1 ) 2 G_n=1+2+\dots(n-1)=\frac{n(n-1)}{2}

Now we can see that if n n is even t n t_n is a multiple of ( n 1 ) (n-1) , and so

t 1 0 9 + 8 m o d 1 0 9 + 7 = 0 t_{10^9+8}\mod{10^9+7}=0

I use similar method. But actually not sure how to prove that this is the minimum. Can you help?

Agil Saelan - 5 years, 3 months ago

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If there is a t ^ < t n \hat{t} \lt t_n found by this method, you should be able to reintroduce an edge in 3 ways:

  • Introduce a base: not possible 'cause it will produce a 3-cycle
  • Rotate an edge and reintroduce a new edge in that position: same as above
  • Change method of coloring: by the simmetries you can rotate some edges and return to the first coloring

So t ^ = t n \hat{t}=t_n .

Brian Riccardi - 5 years, 3 months ago

I've added a couple of sentences at the start of my solution which I hope clears up this point.

Peter Macgregor - 5 years, 3 months ago

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