Number of simple paths in undirected planar graph












1












$begingroup$


I am considering an undirected planar graph $mathcal{G} = (E, V)$ with no loop.
If necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one.
It is however not excluded that there are multiple vertices between two nodes.
I now choose a node $v$.
I would like to find the number of simple paths that go from $v$ to $v$, i.e., the number of walks starting and ending at $v$ that don't go through any vertex more than once.



For the purpose of the illustration, Consider:
enter image description here



This graph has $6$ different paths connecting $v = 1$ to itself.



I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths, but I would like to find a formula for this.










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$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    But you wrote "with no loop" while your illustration has one. Can you give an illustration of what you actually seek?
    $endgroup$
    – David G. Stork
    Dec 20 '18 at 0:35






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @DavidG.Stork No, it has no loops, because a loop is an edge joining a vertex to itself. I think the question is correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Alex Ravsky
    Dec 20 '18 at 2:20










  • $begingroup$
    Yes, @DavidG.Stork, you are right. I allow the graph to have multiple vertices between two nodes (as in the example I gave) but no loops.
    $endgroup$
    – V. Goepp
    Dec 21 '18 at 16:12
















1












$begingroup$


I am considering an undirected planar graph $mathcal{G} = (E, V)$ with no loop.
If necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one.
It is however not excluded that there are multiple vertices between two nodes.
I now choose a node $v$.
I would like to find the number of simple paths that go from $v$ to $v$, i.e., the number of walks starting and ending at $v$ that don't go through any vertex more than once.



For the purpose of the illustration, Consider:
enter image description here



This graph has $6$ different paths connecting $v = 1$ to itself.



I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths, but I would like to find a formula for this.










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    But you wrote "with no loop" while your illustration has one. Can you give an illustration of what you actually seek?
    $endgroup$
    – David G. Stork
    Dec 20 '18 at 0:35






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @DavidG.Stork No, it has no loops, because a loop is an edge joining a vertex to itself. I think the question is correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Alex Ravsky
    Dec 20 '18 at 2:20










  • $begingroup$
    Yes, @DavidG.Stork, you are right. I allow the graph to have multiple vertices between two nodes (as in the example I gave) but no loops.
    $endgroup$
    – V. Goepp
    Dec 21 '18 at 16:12














1












1








1





$begingroup$


I am considering an undirected planar graph $mathcal{G} = (E, V)$ with no loop.
If necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one.
It is however not excluded that there are multiple vertices between two nodes.
I now choose a node $v$.
I would like to find the number of simple paths that go from $v$ to $v$, i.e., the number of walks starting and ending at $v$ that don't go through any vertex more than once.



For the purpose of the illustration, Consider:
enter image description here



This graph has $6$ different paths connecting $v = 1$ to itself.



I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths, but I would like to find a formula for this.










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$




I am considering an undirected planar graph $mathcal{G} = (E, V)$ with no loop.
If necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one.
It is however not excluded that there are multiple vertices between two nodes.
I now choose a node $v$.
I would like to find the number of simple paths that go from $v$ to $v$, i.e., the number of walks starting and ending at $v$ that don't go through any vertex more than once.



For the purpose of the illustration, Consider:
enter image description here



This graph has $6$ different paths connecting $v = 1$ to itself.



I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths, but I would like to find a formula for this.







combinatorics graph-theory algorithms planar-graph






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited Dec 20 '18 at 3:47









nafhgood

1,797422




1,797422










asked Dec 20 '18 at 0:21









V. GoeppV. Goepp

61




61








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    But you wrote "with no loop" while your illustration has one. Can you give an illustration of what you actually seek?
    $endgroup$
    – David G. Stork
    Dec 20 '18 at 0:35






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @DavidG.Stork No, it has no loops, because a loop is an edge joining a vertex to itself. I think the question is correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Alex Ravsky
    Dec 20 '18 at 2:20










  • $begingroup$
    Yes, @DavidG.Stork, you are right. I allow the graph to have multiple vertices between two nodes (as in the example I gave) but no loops.
    $endgroup$
    – V. Goepp
    Dec 21 '18 at 16:12














  • 1




    $begingroup$
    But you wrote "with no loop" while your illustration has one. Can you give an illustration of what you actually seek?
    $endgroup$
    – David G. Stork
    Dec 20 '18 at 0:35






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @DavidG.Stork No, it has no loops, because a loop is an edge joining a vertex to itself. I think the question is correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Alex Ravsky
    Dec 20 '18 at 2:20










  • $begingroup$
    Yes, @DavidG.Stork, you are right. I allow the graph to have multiple vertices between two nodes (as in the example I gave) but no loops.
    $endgroup$
    – V. Goepp
    Dec 21 '18 at 16:12








1




1




$begingroup$
But you wrote "with no loop" while your illustration has one. Can you give an illustration of what you actually seek?
$endgroup$
– David G. Stork
Dec 20 '18 at 0:35




$begingroup$
But you wrote "with no loop" while your illustration has one. Can you give an illustration of what you actually seek?
$endgroup$
– David G. Stork
Dec 20 '18 at 0:35




1




1




$begingroup$
@DavidG.Stork No, it has no loops, because a loop is an edge joining a vertex to itself. I think the question is correct.
$endgroup$
– Alex Ravsky
Dec 20 '18 at 2:20




$begingroup$
@DavidG.Stork No, it has no loops, because a loop is an edge joining a vertex to itself. I think the question is correct.
$endgroup$
– Alex Ravsky
Dec 20 '18 at 2:20












$begingroup$
Yes, @DavidG.Stork, you are right. I allow the graph to have multiple vertices between two nodes (as in the example I gave) but no loops.
$endgroup$
– V. Goepp
Dec 21 '18 at 16:12




$begingroup$
Yes, @DavidG.Stork, you are right. I allow the graph to have multiple vertices between two nodes (as in the example I gave) but no loops.
$endgroup$
– V. Goepp
Dec 21 '18 at 16:12










1 Answer
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$begingroup$

Given a vertex $v$ of a graph $mathcal G$ a walk starting and ending at $v$ that don't going through any vertex of $mathcal G$ more than once we’ll call a $v$-cycle.




I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths,




If $mathcal G$ is $n$-gon in which there are $a_i$ instances of $i$-th edge of $n$-gon,
then for each vertex $v$ of $mathcal G$ there is exactly $prod a_i$ $v$-cycles of non-zero length. In particular, when all $a_i=2$ then the number of $v$-cycles if $2^{|E|/2}$. If we wish to have a graph without multiple edges with exponential lower bound for the number of $v$-cycles, then we can subdivide each second instance of a multiple edge by a vertex.



The remaining part of my answer is conjectural, and I’m going to think about it more later.



Nevertheless, I guess that that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ without multiple edges there is at most exponentially many $v$-cycles in $mathcal G$. This claim also may imply that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ there is at most exponentially of $|E|$ many $v$-paths in $mathcal G$.



In order to prove this conjecture, for the simplicity if necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one, because such a node cannot belong to any cycle. Next we associate the graph $mathcal G$ with its arbitrary plane drawing. Then I guess that each cycle of $mathcal G$ is uniquely determined by a set of faces which it bounds. Since $mathcal G$ has $O(|E|)$ faces, there are at most $2^{O(|E|)}$ cycles in $mathcal G$.



Also are interesting grid graphs. Let $v$ be the origin of an infinite square grid graph $mathcal G$. I guess that the sets of faces of $mathcal G$ bounded by $v$-cycles are exactly sets $S^*$ of vertices of the dual graph $mathcal G^*=(V^*,E^*)$ such $v$ has and incident face both in $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ and both subgraph induced on $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ are connected. Since the dual $G^*$ is again an infinite square grid graph, it turns out that we went close to a recent percolation related counting problem. Namely, we have to count a number of sets $S^*$ of the graph $mathcal G$ such that induced by $S^*$ subgraph of $mathcal G$ is connected (that is fixed a polyominoes) without holes and $S^*$ contains at least one and at most three faces of four faces of $mathcal G$ incident to $v$. I expect that there exists exponentially many such sets $S^*$. Then for grid graphs we should have exponentially many $v$-cycles of a given length. I expect that there are still exponentially many $v$-cycles even when $mathcal G$ is a rectangular grid and the $v$-cycle should contain all vertices of $mathcal G$. The number of $v$-cycles is the number of Hamiltonian cycles, which are known as rook cycles, see also this related question. I guess that for sufficiently wide grids there are exponentially many rook cycles.






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    $begingroup$

    Given a vertex $v$ of a graph $mathcal G$ a walk starting and ending at $v$ that don't going through any vertex of $mathcal G$ more than once we’ll call a $v$-cycle.




    I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths,




    If $mathcal G$ is $n$-gon in which there are $a_i$ instances of $i$-th edge of $n$-gon,
    then for each vertex $v$ of $mathcal G$ there is exactly $prod a_i$ $v$-cycles of non-zero length. In particular, when all $a_i=2$ then the number of $v$-cycles if $2^{|E|/2}$. If we wish to have a graph without multiple edges with exponential lower bound for the number of $v$-cycles, then we can subdivide each second instance of a multiple edge by a vertex.



    The remaining part of my answer is conjectural, and I’m going to think about it more later.



    Nevertheless, I guess that that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ without multiple edges there is at most exponentially many $v$-cycles in $mathcal G$. This claim also may imply that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ there is at most exponentially of $|E|$ many $v$-paths in $mathcal G$.



    In order to prove this conjecture, for the simplicity if necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one, because such a node cannot belong to any cycle. Next we associate the graph $mathcal G$ with its arbitrary plane drawing. Then I guess that each cycle of $mathcal G$ is uniquely determined by a set of faces which it bounds. Since $mathcal G$ has $O(|E|)$ faces, there are at most $2^{O(|E|)}$ cycles in $mathcal G$.



    Also are interesting grid graphs. Let $v$ be the origin of an infinite square grid graph $mathcal G$. I guess that the sets of faces of $mathcal G$ bounded by $v$-cycles are exactly sets $S^*$ of vertices of the dual graph $mathcal G^*=(V^*,E^*)$ such $v$ has and incident face both in $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ and both subgraph induced on $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ are connected. Since the dual $G^*$ is again an infinite square grid graph, it turns out that we went close to a recent percolation related counting problem. Namely, we have to count a number of sets $S^*$ of the graph $mathcal G$ such that induced by $S^*$ subgraph of $mathcal G$ is connected (that is fixed a polyominoes) without holes and $S^*$ contains at least one and at most three faces of four faces of $mathcal G$ incident to $v$. I expect that there exists exponentially many such sets $S^*$. Then for grid graphs we should have exponentially many $v$-cycles of a given length. I expect that there are still exponentially many $v$-cycles even when $mathcal G$ is a rectangular grid and the $v$-cycle should contain all vertices of $mathcal G$. The number of $v$-cycles is the number of Hamiltonian cycles, which are known as rook cycles, see also this related question. I guess that for sufficiently wide grids there are exponentially many rook cycles.






    share|cite|improve this answer









    $endgroup$


















      0












      $begingroup$

      Given a vertex $v$ of a graph $mathcal G$ a walk starting and ending at $v$ that don't going through any vertex of $mathcal G$ more than once we’ll call a $v$-cycle.




      I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths,




      If $mathcal G$ is $n$-gon in which there are $a_i$ instances of $i$-th edge of $n$-gon,
      then for each vertex $v$ of $mathcal G$ there is exactly $prod a_i$ $v$-cycles of non-zero length. In particular, when all $a_i=2$ then the number of $v$-cycles if $2^{|E|/2}$. If we wish to have a graph without multiple edges with exponential lower bound for the number of $v$-cycles, then we can subdivide each second instance of a multiple edge by a vertex.



      The remaining part of my answer is conjectural, and I’m going to think about it more later.



      Nevertheless, I guess that that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ without multiple edges there is at most exponentially many $v$-cycles in $mathcal G$. This claim also may imply that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ there is at most exponentially of $|E|$ many $v$-paths in $mathcal G$.



      In order to prove this conjecture, for the simplicity if necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one, because such a node cannot belong to any cycle. Next we associate the graph $mathcal G$ with its arbitrary plane drawing. Then I guess that each cycle of $mathcal G$ is uniquely determined by a set of faces which it bounds. Since $mathcal G$ has $O(|E|)$ faces, there are at most $2^{O(|E|)}$ cycles in $mathcal G$.



      Also are interesting grid graphs. Let $v$ be the origin of an infinite square grid graph $mathcal G$. I guess that the sets of faces of $mathcal G$ bounded by $v$-cycles are exactly sets $S^*$ of vertices of the dual graph $mathcal G^*=(V^*,E^*)$ such $v$ has and incident face both in $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ and both subgraph induced on $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ are connected. Since the dual $G^*$ is again an infinite square grid graph, it turns out that we went close to a recent percolation related counting problem. Namely, we have to count a number of sets $S^*$ of the graph $mathcal G$ such that induced by $S^*$ subgraph of $mathcal G$ is connected (that is fixed a polyominoes) without holes and $S^*$ contains at least one and at most three faces of four faces of $mathcal G$ incident to $v$. I expect that there exists exponentially many such sets $S^*$. Then for grid graphs we should have exponentially many $v$-cycles of a given length. I expect that there are still exponentially many $v$-cycles even when $mathcal G$ is a rectangular grid and the $v$-cycle should contain all vertices of $mathcal G$. The number of $v$-cycles is the number of Hamiltonian cycles, which are known as rook cycles, see also this related question. I guess that for sufficiently wide grids there are exponentially many rook cycles.






      share|cite|improve this answer









      $endgroup$
















        0












        0








        0





        $begingroup$

        Given a vertex $v$ of a graph $mathcal G$ a walk starting and ending at $v$ that don't going through any vertex of $mathcal G$ more than once we’ll call a $v$-cycle.




        I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths,




        If $mathcal G$ is $n$-gon in which there are $a_i$ instances of $i$-th edge of $n$-gon,
        then for each vertex $v$ of $mathcal G$ there is exactly $prod a_i$ $v$-cycles of non-zero length. In particular, when all $a_i=2$ then the number of $v$-cycles if $2^{|E|/2}$. If we wish to have a graph without multiple edges with exponential lower bound for the number of $v$-cycles, then we can subdivide each second instance of a multiple edge by a vertex.



        The remaining part of my answer is conjectural, and I’m going to think about it more later.



        Nevertheless, I guess that that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ without multiple edges there is at most exponentially many $v$-cycles in $mathcal G$. This claim also may imply that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ there is at most exponentially of $|E|$ many $v$-paths in $mathcal G$.



        In order to prove this conjecture, for the simplicity if necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one, because such a node cannot belong to any cycle. Next we associate the graph $mathcal G$ with its arbitrary plane drawing. Then I guess that each cycle of $mathcal G$ is uniquely determined by a set of faces which it bounds. Since $mathcal G$ has $O(|E|)$ faces, there are at most $2^{O(|E|)}$ cycles in $mathcal G$.



        Also are interesting grid graphs. Let $v$ be the origin of an infinite square grid graph $mathcal G$. I guess that the sets of faces of $mathcal G$ bounded by $v$-cycles are exactly sets $S^*$ of vertices of the dual graph $mathcal G^*=(V^*,E^*)$ such $v$ has and incident face both in $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ and both subgraph induced on $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ are connected. Since the dual $G^*$ is again an infinite square grid graph, it turns out that we went close to a recent percolation related counting problem. Namely, we have to count a number of sets $S^*$ of the graph $mathcal G$ such that induced by $S^*$ subgraph of $mathcal G$ is connected (that is fixed a polyominoes) without holes and $S^*$ contains at least one and at most three faces of four faces of $mathcal G$ incident to $v$. I expect that there exists exponentially many such sets $S^*$. Then for grid graphs we should have exponentially many $v$-cycles of a given length. I expect that there are still exponentially many $v$-cycles even when $mathcal G$ is a rectangular grid and the $v$-cycle should contain all vertices of $mathcal G$. The number of $v$-cycles is the number of Hamiltonian cycles, which are known as rook cycles, see also this related question. I guess that for sufficiently wide grids there are exponentially many rook cycles.






        share|cite|improve this answer









        $endgroup$



        Given a vertex $v$ of a graph $mathcal G$ a walk starting and ending at $v$ that don't going through any vertex of $mathcal G$ more than once we’ll call a $v$-cycle.




        I found a non-polynomial time algorithm to count these paths,




        If $mathcal G$ is $n$-gon in which there are $a_i$ instances of $i$-th edge of $n$-gon,
        then for each vertex $v$ of $mathcal G$ there is exactly $prod a_i$ $v$-cycles of non-zero length. In particular, when all $a_i=2$ then the number of $v$-cycles if $2^{|E|/2}$. If we wish to have a graph without multiple edges with exponential lower bound for the number of $v$-cycles, then we can subdivide each second instance of a multiple edge by a vertex.



        The remaining part of my answer is conjectural, and I’m going to think about it more later.



        Nevertheless, I guess that that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ without multiple edges there is at most exponentially many $v$-cycles in $mathcal G$. This claim also may imply that for each vertex $v$ of a planar graph $mathcal G$ there is at most exponentially of $|E|$ many $v$-paths in $mathcal G$.



        In order to prove this conjecture, for the simplicity if necessary, we can assume that there are no node of degree one, because such a node cannot belong to any cycle. Next we associate the graph $mathcal G$ with its arbitrary plane drawing. Then I guess that each cycle of $mathcal G$ is uniquely determined by a set of faces which it bounds. Since $mathcal G$ has $O(|E|)$ faces, there are at most $2^{O(|E|)}$ cycles in $mathcal G$.



        Also are interesting grid graphs. Let $v$ be the origin of an infinite square grid graph $mathcal G$. I guess that the sets of faces of $mathcal G$ bounded by $v$-cycles are exactly sets $S^*$ of vertices of the dual graph $mathcal G^*=(V^*,E^*)$ such $v$ has and incident face both in $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ and both subgraph induced on $S^*$ and $V^*setminus S^*$ are connected. Since the dual $G^*$ is again an infinite square grid graph, it turns out that we went close to a recent percolation related counting problem. Namely, we have to count a number of sets $S^*$ of the graph $mathcal G$ such that induced by $S^*$ subgraph of $mathcal G$ is connected (that is fixed a polyominoes) without holes and $S^*$ contains at least one and at most three faces of four faces of $mathcal G$ incident to $v$. I expect that there exists exponentially many such sets $S^*$. Then for grid graphs we should have exponentially many $v$-cycles of a given length. I expect that there are still exponentially many $v$-cycles even when $mathcal G$ is a rectangular grid and the $v$-cycle should contain all vertices of $mathcal G$. The number of $v$-cycles is the number of Hamiltonian cycles, which are known as rook cycles, see also this related question. I guess that for sufficiently wide grids there are exponentially many rook cycles.







        share|cite|improve this answer












        share|cite|improve this answer



        share|cite|improve this answer










        answered Dec 20 '18 at 9:26









        Alex RavskyAlex Ravsky

        40.4k32282




        40.4k32282






























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