Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics Commons^™

On The Enumeration Of Shapes, May Cai, Nicholas Liao

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

We define a shape as a union of finitely many line segments. Given an arrangement of lines on a plane, we count the number of shapes in the arrangement by examining the symmetries of the arrangement and applying Burnside's lemma. We further establish a generating function for the number of distinct line segments on a line with k distinguished points. We list all affine line arrangements of four and five line segments, together with the corresponding number of shapes on them.

Iterated Line Graphs On Bi-Regular Graphs And Trees, Brenden Balch

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

In 1965, van Rooij and Wilf considered sequences of line graphs, in which they grouped sequences of line graphs into four categories. We’ll add to their research by presenting results on sequences of line graphs for star graphs and bi-regular graphs. We will then investigate slight variations of star graphs.

Consecutive Prime And Highly Total Prime Labeling In Graphs, Robert Scholle

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

This paper examines the graph-theoretical concepts of consecutive prime labeling and highly total prime labeling. These are variations on prime labeling, introduced by Tout, Dabboucy, and Howalla in 1982. Consecutive prime labeling is defined here for the first time. Consecutive prime labeling requires that the labels of vertices in a graph be relatively prime to the labels of all adjacent vertices as well as all incident edges. We show that all paths, cycles, stars, and complete graphs have a consecutive prime labeling and conjecture that all simple connected graphs have a consecutive prime labeling.

This paper also expands on work …

Combinatorial Identities On Multinomial Coefficients And Graph Theory, Seungho Lee

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

We study combinatorial identities on multinomial coefficients. In particular, we present several new ways to count the connected labeled graphs using multinomial coefficients.

Triangle Packing On Tripartite Graphs Is Hard, Peter A. Bradshaw

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

The problem of finding a maximum matching on a bipartite graph is well-understood and can be solved using the augmenting path algorithm. However, the similar problem of finding a large set of vertex-disjoint triangles on tripartite graphs has not received much attention. In this paper, we define a set of vertex-disjoint triangles as a “tratching.” The problem of finding a tratching that covers all vertices of a tripartite graph can be shown to be NP-complete using a reduction from the three-dimensional matching problem. In this paper, however, we introduce a new construction that allows us to emulate Boolean circuits using …

Graphs, Random Walks, And The Tower Of Hanoi, Stephanie Egler

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

The Tower of Hanoi puzzle with its disks and poles is familiar to students in mathematics and computing. Typically used as a classroom example of the important phenomenon of recursion, the puzzle has also been intensively studied its own right, using graph theory, probability, and other tools. The subject of this paper is “Hanoi graphs”, that is, graphs that portray all the possible arrangements of the puzzle, together with all the possible moves from one arrangement to another. These graphs are not only fascinating in their own right, but they shed considerable light on the nature of the puzzle itself. …

Asymptotically Optimal Bounds For (𝑡,2) Broadcast Domination On Finite Grids, Timothy W. Randolph

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

Let G = (V,E) be a graph and t,r be positive integers. The signal that a tower vertex T of signal strength t supplies to a vertex v is defined as sig(T, v) = max(t − dist(T,v),0), where dist(T,v) denotes the distance between the vertices v and T. In 2015 Blessing, Insko, Johnson, and Mauretour defined a (t, r) broadcast dominating set, or simply a (t, r) broadcast, on G as a set T ⊆ V such that the sum of all signal received at each vertex v ∈ V from the set of towers T …

A Generalized Newton-Girard Identity, Tanay Wakhare

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

We present a generalization of the Newton-Girard identities, along with some applications. As an addendum, we collect many evaluations of symmetric polynomials to which these identities apply.

A Proof Of The "Magicness" Of The Siam Construction Of A Magic Square, Joshua Arroyo

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

A magic square is an n x n array filled with n² distinct positive integers 1, 2, ..., n² such that the sum of the n integers in each row, column, and each of the main diagonals are the same. A Latin square is an n x n array consisting of n distinct symbols such that each symbol appears exactly once in each row and column of the square. Many articles dealing with the construction of magic squares introduce the Siam method as a "simple'' construction for magic squares. Rarely, however, does the article actually prove that the …

On Orders Of Elliptic Curves Over Finite Fields, Yujin H. Kim, Jackson Bahr, Eric Neyman, Gregory Taylor

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

In this work, we completely characterize by $j$-invariant the number of orders of elliptic curves over all finite fields $F_{p^r}$ using combinatorial arguments and elementary number theory. Whenever possible, we state and prove exactly which orders can be taken on.