Nordhaus-Gaddum inequalities for the number of connected induced subgraphs in graphs

Review

Nordhaus-Gaddum inequalities for the number of connected induced subgraphs in graphs


Abstract

Let η(G) be the number of connected induced subgraphs in a graph G, and the complement of G. We prove that η(G) + η() is minimum, among all n-vertex graphs, if and only if G has no induced path on four vertices. Since the n-vertex star Sn with maximum degree n − 1 is the unique tree of diameter 2, is minimum among all n-vertex trees, while the maximum is shown to be achieved only by the tree whose degree sequence is (⌈n/2⌉, ⌊n/2⌋, 1, . . . , 1). Furthermore, we prove that every graph G of order n ≥ 5 and with maximum η(G) + η() must have diameter at most 3, no cut vertex and the property that G is also connected. In both cases of trees and graphs that have the same order, we find that if η(G) is maximum then η(G) + η() is minimum.

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