Existence of a path of length n/2 in every bipartite graph with d ( A , B ) =

Logan Lamb

Logan Lamb

Answered question

2022-05-17

Existence of a path of length n/2 in every bipartite graph with d ( A , B ) = 1 / 2
Claim: Let G = A B be a balanced bipartite graph with e ( A , B ) n / 2 then G has a path of length n/2.
I know about the erdos-gallai theorem that would net a path of length n/4. By noting that d ( G ) = 2 E ( G ) / V ( G ) n 2 / 4 n
I suspect that the condition of being bipartite forces the ecistence of a longer path, and I am yet unaware of such a result or a counterexample.
Part of my intuition is from the fact that considering a disjoint union of 2 copies of K n / 4 1 , n / 4 which are edge-maximal biparite graphs not containing such a path, we then have these two subgraphs and two yet to be connected vertices on A, also:
2 e ( K n / 4 1 , n / 4 ) = n 2 8 n 2 < n 2 / 8
And adding any edge would form a path of the desired length. Any help on how to go about proving this, or a reference for such a resukt would be greatly appreciated.

Answer & Explanation

Lara Alvarez

Lara Alvarez

Beginner2022-05-18Added 14 answers

Step 1
I think i have solved it, by noting the main result from this paper, which states:
Theorem: Let c > 1, let G = ( A , B , E ) be a bipartite graph with parts | A | = a, | B | = b, which does not contain an even path of length 2l, with l > c, then e ( G ) { a b ,  if  c a b c ,  if  2 c > a > c ( a + b 2 c ) ,  if  a 2 c .
Step 2
By replacing a = b = n / 2, c = n / 4 1, we get that if G doesn't contain a path of length n/2, then e ( G ) n 2 ( n 4 1 ) = n 2 8 n 2 < 1 2 n 2 n 2

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