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Subgraph Isomorphism Problem


The subgraph isomorphism problem asks, for two finite graphs G and H, whether G contains a subgraph isomorphic to H. The problem is NP-complete; the clique decision problem is obtained by taking H to be a complete graph.

Unlike graph isomorphism, the subgraph problem allows graph vertices and graph edges of G to be discarded. The induced subgraph isomorphism problem additionally requires the copy of H to be a vertex-induced subgraph.


See also

Clique, Graph Isomorphism, Subgraph, Vertex-Induced Subgraph

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References

Karp, R. M. "Reducibility Among Combinatorial Problems." In Complexity of Computer Computations, Proc. Sympos. IBM Thomas J. Watson Res. Center, Yorktown Heights, N.Y., 1972 (Ed. R. E. Miller and J. W. Thatcher). New York: Plenum, pp. 85-103, 1972. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2001-2_9.Knuth, D. E. §7.2.2.3 in The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 4, Fascicle 7: Constraint Satisfaction. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, p. 30, 2025.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Subgraph Isomorphism Problem." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/SubgraphIsomorphismProblem.html

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