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Zero Forcing Polynomial


The zero forcing polynomial Z_G(x) of a finite simple graph G is the generating function in which the coefficient of x^k counts the zero forcing sets of size k (Boyer et al. 2019). The least exponent with a nonzero coefficient is the zero forcing number.

Newton and Brimkov (2026) constructed an infinite family for which the coefficient sequence is not unimodal. Their 82-vertex example has

 Z_G(x)=2628x^(78)+2436x^(79)+2485x^(80)+82x^(81)+x^(82).

The same family supplies counterexamples for the polynomials that count connected or total zero forcing sets. These require the set to induce a connected graph or a graph without isolated vertices, respectively.


See also

Zero Forcing Number, Zero Forcing Set

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References

Boyer, K.; Brimkov, B.; English, S.; Ferrero, D.; Keller, A.; Kirsch, R.; Phillips, M.; and Reinhart, C. "The Zero Forcing Polynomial of a Graph." Disc. Appl. Math. 258, 35-48, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dam.2018.11.033.Newton, T. and Brimkov, B. "Zero Forcing Is Not Unimodal." 8 Nov 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.11352v1.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Zero Forcing Polynomial." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ZeroForcingPolynomial.html

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