Department of Mathematics

II Semester 2015-2016
MAL 468/ MAL 656 /MTL 768 Graph Theory
Tutorial Sheet 4 (Matching)
Assume that G has n vertices and m edges.
1. Prove that the Hypercube of dimension n>1 has a perfect matching.
2. Let A=(A1,A2,…Am) be a collection of subsets of a set Y. Prove that A has a System of
Distinct Representative (SDR) ( A collection A1,A2,…Am of finite non-empty sets is
said to have a System of Distinct Representative (SDR) if there exists a set {s1,s2,…,sr}
of distinct elements such that si Si for 1 ≤ i≤k ) if and only if |i in S Ai| ≥ |S| for every
S {1,2,,….,m}.
3. Show that the collection of all (n-1)-element subsets of an n-element set, n ≥ 2, has a
system of distinct representatives.
4. Prove that every maximal matching in a graph G has at least α(G) /2 edges, where α(G)
is the maximum cardinality of a matching.
5. Determine the minimum size of a maximal matching in the cycle Cn.
6. Let G be an X-Y-bigraph such that |N(S)| > S whenever  ≠ S  X. Prove that every edge
of G belongs to some matching that saturates X.
7. Let A=(A1,A2,…Am) be a collection of subsets of a set Y. Prove that A has an SDR if and
only if |i in S Ai| ≥ |S| for every S {1,2,,….,m}.
8. Every component of the symmetric difference of two matching is a path or an even cycle.
9. Prove that a bipartite graph G has a matching that saturates all vertices of maximum
degree.
10. Suppose the bipartite graph G=(V1,V2,E) has a perfect matching and for every v V1 has
degree at least k. Show that G has at least k! Perfect matchings.
11. Prove that a tree T can have at most one perfect matching.
12. Let G=(V1,V2,E) be a bipartite graph with |V1|= n1 and |V2|=n2 and the vertices xi V1
and yi V2 indexed such that d(x1) ≤d(x2) ≤ …≤d(xn1) and d(y1) ≥d(y2) ≥…≥d(yn2). Then
show that a sufficient condition for V1 to be matched into V2 is that n1 ≤n2, d(x1) > 0, and
k k 1

 d ( xi )   d ( y j ) , 2 ≤k ≤n1.
1 1

13. If in a bipartite graph G=(V1,V2,E), we have |V1| ≤|V2| and min {d(xi)| xi V1} > max
{d(yi)| yi  V2}, then show that V1 can be matched into V2.
14. If in a bipartite graph G=(V1,V2,E), we have |V1| ≤|V2| and no isolated vertices, there
exists an x1  V1 such that min {d(xi)| xi V1-{x1} } > max {d(yi)| yi  V2}, then show
that V1 can be matched into V2.
15. Every regular graph of positive even degree has a 2-regular spanning subgraph. (
Convert this problem into a perfect matching problem in bipartite graph)