Advice on the Writing Projects for Chapter 7

  1. The best source here is [BiLl].

  2. A good source for these kinds of applications is Fred Roberts (see [Ro2] and [Ro4]). Graph theory is also being used extensively now in the human genome project and other areas of biology.

  3. See the comments for Writing Project 2.

  4. See the comments for Writing Project 5.

  5. There should be some material in [EaTa] and [Sk]. The author of the latter also has a Web site on this topic. Using a search engine on the Web should turn up some useful information, such as this Java-based site. There are some graph-drawing macros in dialects of TeX. The wonderful software called The Geometer's Sketchpad lets you manipulate geometric pictures, and it could come in handy in this Project. Graph-drawing is an active area of research; see this Web page or this one for other resources and information on current research. Probably the best contemporary resources are as follows (these were gleaned from a list produced by Anthony Thyssen). Brendan McKay wrote a program called nauty, which has a good many graph theory algorithms. This program computes automorphism groups, canonical labeling, and other things. Hermann Stamm-Wilbrandt wrote a program called LEDA. It's a collection of algorithms in C++ that one can use in writing programs. There is another interactive graph-visualization system called daVinci. Finally, we mention a program called Cabri-Graph.

  6. The definitive work is [KoSc]. Numerous Web sites, such as this one, deal with the problem; try using a search engine to see what's available.

  7. Check out [Ra] and this Web site.

  8. Most advanced graph theory or combinatorics texts will mention this. Look at [Ro1], which also has further references. There is also a relevant chapter in [MiRo].

  9. Try general graph theory references, such as [BoMu], [GrYe], or [We]. A specialized article on this topic is [Go2].

  10. There is a whole book on this topic, namely [La3]. Up-to-date information (such as the size of the largest traveling salesman problem that has been solved) can also be found on the Web using a search engine; one good site is called TSPBIB Home Page.

  11. Try [BoMu] or, better yet, books on graph algorithms like [ChOe] or [Ev2].

  12. This would be a good time to search the Mathematical Reviews database, under the keywords "book embedding" or "pagenumber".

  13. Try [Mi], [FrFr], [SaKa], or [WoWi]. For something quite new, follow this link.

  14. This is related to Writing Project 2 in Chapter 3; see the references listed there. Also see [ApHa] and the references listed in Writing Project 13.

  15. One article to look at is B. Manvel's "Extremely greedy coloring algorithms" in [HaMa], which is a conference proceedings. It will be an educational experience to browse through that volume, to see what research mathematicians do. Also, books on algorithmic graph theory, such as [Mc] or those mentioned above in the suggestion for Writing Project 11, will have some material. A general source for graph algorithms, useful throughout this chapter's Writing Projects, is The Stony Brook Algorithm Repository; it has a section on coloring.

  16. There is a relevant article in [MiRo].

  17. There are entire books on random graphs and, more generally, probabilistic methods in discrete mathematics. Two books to consult are [Bo2] and the more elementary (and fun) [Pa]. There is also a paper-length introduction, [Bo3]. For something more general, try [AlSp], although it is rather advanced.

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Last modified: December 28, 1998.