Type of graph
In graph theory, a biconnected graph is a connected and "nonseparable" graph, meaning that if any one vertex were to be removed, the graph will remain connected. Therefore a biconnected graph has no articulation vertices.
The property of being 2-connected is equivalent to biconnectivity, except that the complete graph of two vertices is usually not regarded as 2-connected.
This property is especially useful in maintaining a graph with a two-fold redundancy, to prevent disconnection upon the removal of a single edge (or connection).
The use of biconnected graphs is very important in the field of networking (see Network flow), because of this property of redundancy.
Definition
A biconnected undirected graph is a connected graph that is not broken into disconnected pieces by deleting any single vertex (and its incident edges).
A biconnected directed graph is one such that for any two vertices v and w there are two directed paths from v to w which have no vertices in common other than v and w.
Examples
-
A biconnected graph on four vertices and four edges
-
A graph that is not biconnected. The removal of vertex x would disconnect the graph.
-
A biconnected graph on five vertices and six edges
-
A graph that is not biconnected. The removal of vertex x would disconnect the graph.
Nonseparable (or 2-connected) graphs (or blocks) with n nodes (sequence A002218 in the OEIS)
Vertices |
Number of Possibilities
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
5
|
10
|
6
|
56
|
7
|
468
|
8
|
7123
|
9
|
194066
|
10
|
9743542
|
11
|
900969091
|
12
|
153620333545
|
13
|
48432939150704
|
14
|
28361824488394169
|
15
|
30995890806033380784
|
16
|
63501635429109597504951
|
17
|
244852079292073376010411280
|
18
|
1783160594069429925952824734641
|
19
|
24603887051350945867492816663958981
|
Structure of 2-connected graphs
Every 2-connected graph can be constructed inductively by adding paths to a cycle
(Diestel 2016, p. 59).
See also
References
- Eric W. Weisstein. "Biconnected Graph." From MathWorld—A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/BiconnectedGraph.html
- Paul E. Black, "biconnected graph", in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Paul E. Black, ed., U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. 17 December 2004. (accessed TODAY) Available from: https://xlinux.nist.gov/dads/HTML/biconnectedGraph.html
- Diestel, Reinhard (2016), Graph Theory (5th ed.), Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-662-53621-6.
External links