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k-Connected Graph


A k-connected graph, also called a k-vertex connected or k-point connected graph, is a graph G with more than k vertices such that deleting fewer than k vertices leaves a connected graph, where k is a positive integer. Equivalently, its vertex connectivity satisfies kappa(G)>=k. Thus a connected graph on more than one vertex is 1-connected, and a biconnected graph on more than two vertices is 2-connected.

The singleton graph is "annoyingly inconsistent" (West 2000, p. 150) since it is connected, but by convention it is taken to have kappa(K_1)=0.

A wheel graph on at least four vertices is the "basic 3-connected graph" (Tutte 1961; Skiena 1990, p. 179).

k-connectedness graph checking is implemented in the Wolfram Language as KVertexConnectedGraphQ[g, k].

The following table gives the numbers of unlabeled k-connected simple graphs on n nodes (counting the singleton graph K_1 as 1-connected and the path graph P_2 as 2-connected).

kOEISk-connected graphs on 1, 2, ... nodes
1A0013491, 1, 2, 6, 21, 112, 853, 11117, 261080, ...
2A0022180, 1, 1, 3, 10, 56, 468, 7123, 194066, ...
3A0062900, 0, 0, 1, 3, 17, 136, 2388, 80890, ...
4A0862160, 0, 0, 0, 1, 4, 25, 384, 14480, ...
5A0862170, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 4, 39, 1051, 102630, 22331311, ...
6A3242400, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 5, 59, 3211, 830896, ...
7A3240920, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 5, 87, 9940, 7532629, ...

See also

Barnette's Conjecture, Biconnected Graph, Connected Graph, Disconnected Graph, Graph Block, Harary Graph, k-Edge-Connected Graph, Menger's n-Arc Theorem, Polyhedral Graph, Vertex Connectivity, Vertex Cut

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References

Harary, F. Graph Theory. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, p. 45, 1994.Skiena, S. Implementing Discrete Mathematics: Combinatorics and Graph Theory with Mathematica. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1990.Sloane, N. J. A. Sequences A000719/M1452, A001349/M1657, A002218/M2873, A006290/M3039, A052442, A052443, A052444, A052445, A086216, A086217, A324092, and A324240 in "The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences."Tutte, W. T. "A Theory of 3-Connected Graphs." Indag. Math. 23, 441-455, 1961.West, D. B. Introduction to Graph Theory, 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2000.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

k-Connected Graph

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "k-Connected Graph." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/k-ConnectedGraph.html

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