The Hosoya index (also called -index) of a graph, as proposed by
Hosoya (1971), is defined by
|
(1)
| |||
|
(2)
|
where
is the number of vertices of the graph,
is the coefficient
of
in the matching
polynomial,
is the coefficient of
in the matching-generating
polynomial, and
is the absolute value of
. In other words, it is just the number of independent
edge sets (i.e., matchings) in a graph.
Equivalently, writing the matching polynomial with descending-degree coefficients,
|
(3)
|
gives
|
(4)
|
where
denotes the floor function. This is the same index
for both odd and even vertex count, with
.
Unless otherwise stated, hydrogen atoms are usually ignored in the computation of such indices as organic chemists usually do when they write a benzene ring as a hexagon (Devillers and Balaban 1999, p. 25).
The following table summarizes values of the Hosoya index for various special classes of graphs. Unless stated otherwise, each parameter starts at 1. The folded cube and triangular graph rows start at 2. An X indicates that the family in that row is not defined for the corresponding parameter value.
| graph class | OEIS | Hosoya indices |
| Andrásfai graph | 2, 11, 106, 1475, 27514, 651815, 18926340, 655968971, ... | |
| antiprism graph | A192742 | X, X, 51, 191, 708, 2631, 9775, 36319, 134943, 501380, ... |
| Apollonian network | 10, 99, 38613, ... | |
| cocktail party graph | 1, 7, 51, 513, 6345, 93255, 1584555, 30524865, 656843985, ... | |
| complete bipartite graph | A002720 | 2, 7, 34, 209, 1546, ... |
| complete
graph | A000085 | 1, 2, 4, 10, 26, 76, 232, 764, 2620, 9496, 35696, 140152, ... |
| complete tripartite graph | 4, 51, 1126, 37201, 1670136, 96502339, ... | |
| crossed prism graph with even parameter | X, 108, 1092, 11208, 115272, ... | |
| crown graph | A144085 | 1, 4, 18, 108, 780, 6600, 63840, 693840, 8361360, ... |
| cycle graph | A000032 | X, X, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76, 123, 199, 322, 521, ... |
| empty graph | A000012 | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, ... |
| folded cube graph | 2, 10, 209, 115536, 85609174977, ... | |
| grid
graph | A028420 | 1, 7, 131, 10012, 2810694, 2989126727, 11945257052321, ... |
| grid graph | A033535 | 1, 108, 49793133, 17312701462385916505, ... |
| halved cube graph | 1, 2, 10, 513, 4281761, ... | |
| hypercube graph | A045310 | 2, 7, 108, 41025, 13803794944, ... |
| Keller graph | 1, 115536, ... | |
| Möbius ladder | A020877 | X, X, 34, 106, 344, 1102, 3546, ... |
| Mycielski graph | 1, 2, 11, 968, 37270256, ... | |
| odd
graph | 1, 4, 332, 11311777344, ... | |
| pan graph | A006355 | X, X, 6, 10, 16, 26, 42, 68, 110, 178, 288, 466, ... |
| path graph | A000045 | 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, ... |
| permutation star graph | 1, 2, 18, 1157484, ... | |
| prism
graph | A102080 | X, X, 32, 108, 342, 1104, 3544, 11396, 36626, ... |
| rook graph | 1, 7, 370, 270529, 3337807996, ... | |
| star
graph | A000027 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, ... |
| sun graph | A192856 | X, X, 27, 100, 393, 1624, 7017, 31558, 147177, ... |
| sunlet graph | A002203 | X, X, 14, 34, 82, 198, 478, 1154, 2786, 6726, ... |
| torus grid graph | X, X, 370, 41025, ... | |
| transposition
graph | 1, 2, 34, 161966673, ... | |
| triangular graph | 1, 4, 51, 2460, 513619, 509709696, ... | |
| web graph | A192857 | X, X, 93, 439, 1988, 9107, 41583, 190047, 868341, 3967828, ... |
| wheel graph | A061705 | X, X, X, 10, 19, 36, 66, 120, 215, 382, 673, 1178, 2050, 3550, 6121, ... |
Closed forms are summarized in the following table, where denotes the
th polynomial root of
,
is a confluent
hypergeometric function of the second kind,
is a Lucas number,
is a Laguerre
polynomial,
is a Fibonacci number, and
is a Pell-Lucas number.