A Kuratowski constraint is a linear programming inequality used in integer programming formulations
of the graph crossing number. Let be a subgraph of a graph
that is a graph
subdivision of the pentatope graph
or the utility graph
. For each pair
of graph edges of
, set
when
and
cross and
otherwise. Let
consist of the pairs for which
and
lie on graph paths replacing
two nonadjacent graph edges of
or
. Since
is a nonplanar graph, Kuratowski's theorem implies that at least one
such pair must cross, giving the inequality
The phrase "Kuratowski subdivision constraint" specifies the case in which
contains subdivision vertices rather than being exactly
or
(Chimani et al. 2008, Chimani 2011). Chimani (2011) proved that several classes
of these constraints define facets of the associated polytope.