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Almost Hamiltonian Graph


There are several definitions of "almost Hamiltonian" in use.

As defined by Punnim et al. (2007), an almost Hamiltonian graph is a graph on n nodes having Hamiltonian number n+1.

As defined by Sanders (1987), a graph G with n vertices is almost Hamiltonian if every subset of n-1 vertices is contained in a circuit, a definition which is similar to that for a maximally nonhamiltonian graph.

AlmostHamiltonianGraphs

This work adopts the definition of Punnim et al. (2007). The numbers of almost Hamiltonian graphs of this type on n=1, 2, ... vertices are 0, 0, 1, 1, 7, 28, 257, 2933, ... (OEIS A185360), the first few of which are illustrated above.

Since a tree has Hamiltonian number 2n-2, an almost Hamiltonian tree satisfies 2n-2=n+1, giving n=3. Since the 3-path graph P_3 is the only tree on three nodes, it is also the only almost Hamiltonian tree.

Hypohamiltonian graphs are almost Hamiltonian. Many (or perhaps even all?) snarks are almost Hamiltonian.

Punnim et al. (2007) showed that the generalized Petersen graph GP(k,m) is almost Hamiltonian iff m=5 (mod 6) and k=2.

Punnim et al. (2007) proved that there exists an almost Hamiltonian cubic graph for every even order n>=10. The Petersen graph is the unique almost Hamiltonian cubic graph on 10 vertices, and Tietze's graph is the unique almost Hamiltonian cubic graph on 12 vertices (Punnim et al. 2007). Punnim et al. (2007) proved that a cubic nonhamiltonian graph on n vertices is almost Hamiltonian iff it is 2-connected and contains a cycle of length n-1. Examples of 2-connected cubic nonhamiltonian graphs on n vertices lacking a (n-1)-cycle and therefore not almost Hamiltonian are summarized in the following table.


See also

Graph Circumference, Hamiltonian Cycle, Hamiltonian Graph, Hamiltonian Number, Hamiltonian Walk, Hypohamiltonian Graph, Maximally Nonhamiltonian Graph

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References

Punnim, N.; Saenpholphat, V.; and Thaithae, S. "Almost Hamiltonian Cubic Graphs." Int. J. Comput. Sci. Netw. Security 7, 83-86, 2007.Sanders, J. H. "Circuit Preserving Edge Maps II." J. Combin. Th., Ser. B 42, 146-155, 1987.Sloane, N. J. A. Sequence A185360 in "The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences."

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Almost Hamiltonian Graph." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/AlmostHamiltonianGraph.html

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