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Euclidean Distance Graph


Let D be a set of positive numbers, then the D-Euclidean distance graph (or Euclidean distance-D graph) X(D) on a nonempty subset X of Euclidean space is the graph with vertex set X and edge set {(x,y):d(x,y) in D}, where d(x,y) is the Euclidean distance between vertices x and y.

Maehara (1992) additionally require the set D to contain the distance 1.

EuclideanDistanceGraphs

Examples include the Grabarchuk graph, which is the Euclidean distance-3 graph on the vertex set of the 4×4×4 grid graph. A similar example is the sextic Euclidean distance-sqrt(7) graph on 32 vertices obtained from the vertices of the truncated octahedron with unit edge lengths after adding the centers of the hexagonal faces (E. Pegg, Jr., pers. comm., Aug. 12, 2025; Pegg 2025).

The n×m fiveleaper graph is the Euclidean distance-5 graph on the vertex set of the m×n grid graph.

Other examples of Euclidean distance graphs include (a,b)-leaper graph when sqrt(a^2+b^2) is not an integer, as summarized in the following table. Note that because the antelope graph is a (3,4)-leaper graph with sqrt(3^2+4^2)=5^2, it is not a Euclidean distance graph.

(a,b)DEuclidean distance leaper graph
(1,1)sqrt(2)fers graph
(1,2)sqrt(5)knight graph
(1,3)sqrt(10)camel graph
(1,4)sqrt(17)giraffe graph
(1,6)sqrt(37)flamingo graph
(2,2)sqrt(8)alfil graph
(2,3)sqrt(13)zebra graph
(2,4)sqrt(20)lancer graph
(3,3)sqrt(18)tripper graph
(4,4)sqrt(32)commuter graph

Euclidean distance graphs differ from graph distance graphs in that former are constructed based on Euclidean distance between vertices, while the latter are constructed based on graph distance.


See also

Distance-k Graph, Fiveleaper Graph, Graph Distance, Graph Distance Graph, Leaper Graph, Prime-Distance Graph, Unit-Distance Graph, Unit Neighborhood Graph

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References

Maehara, H. "Distance Graphs in Euclidean Space." Ryukyu Math. J. 5, 33-51, 1992.Pegg, E. Jr. Mathematical Games. Episode 32: "Unit Distance Graphs." Aug. 21, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuHr8acIkYs.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Euclidean Distance Graph." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/EuclideanDistanceGraph.html

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