Ars Combinatoria

ISSN 0381-7032 (print), 2817-5204 (online)

Ars Combinatoria is the oldest Canadian journal of combinatorics, established in 1976, dedicated to advancing combinatorial mathematics through the publication of high-quality, peer-reviewed research papers. Over the decades, it has built a strong international reputation and continues to serve as a leading platform for significant contributions to the field.
Open Access:  The journal follows the Diamond Open Access model—completely free for both authors and readers, with no article processing charges (APCs)
Publication Frequency: From 2024 onward, Ars Combinatoria publishes four issues annually—in March, June, September, and December.
Scope: Publishes research in all areas of combinatorics, including graph theory, design theory, enumeration, algebraic combinatorics, combinatorial optimization and related fields.
Indexing & Abstracting:  Indexed in MathSciNet, Zentralblatt MATH, and EBSCO, ensuring wide visibility and scholarly reach.
Rapid Publication: Submissions are processed efficiently, with accepted papers published promptly in the next available issue.
Print & Online Editions: Issues are available in both print and online formats to serve a broad readership.

Omar Saeed 1ORIC ID
1 MIS Department, Business College, King Khalid University, Abha, KSA.
Abstract:

For a simple graph \(G = (V, E)\), a vertex labeling \(\alpha: V \rightarrow \{1, 2, \ldots, k\}\) is called a \(k\)-labeling. The weight of an edge \(xy\) in \(G\), denoted by \(w_\phi(xy)\), is the sum of the labels of end vertices \(x\) and \(y\), i.e., \(w_\phi(xy) = \phi(x) + \phi(y)\). A vertex \(k\)-labeling is defined to be an edge irregular \(k\)-labeling of the graph \(G\) if for every two different edges \(e\) and \(f\) there is \(w_\phi(e) \neq w_\phi(f)\). The minimum \(k\) for which the graph \(G\) has an edge irregular \(k\)-labeling is called the edge irregularity strength of \(G\), denoted by \(\mathrm{es}(G)\). In this paper, we determine the exact value for certain families of graphs with path \(P_2\).

Victor J. W. Guo1, Ya-Zhen Wang2
1School of Mathematical Sciences, Huaiyin Normal University, Huai’an, Jiangsu 223300, People’s Republic of China
2Department of Mathematics, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, People’s Republic of China
Abstract:

We give a \(q\)-analogue of some Dixon-like summation formulas obtained by Gould and Quaintance [Fibonacci Quart. 48 (2010), 56-61] and Chu [Integral Transforms Spec. Funct. 23 (2012), 251-261], respectively. For example, we prove that
\(\sum\limits_{k=0}^{2m} (-1)^{m-k} q^{\binom{m-k}{2}} \binom{2m} {k} \binom{x+k} {2m+r}\binom{x+2m-k} {2m+r}\) = \(\frac{q^{m(x-m-r)}\binom{2m}{m}}{\binom{2m+r}{m}}\binom{x}{m+r}\binom{x+m}{m+r}\) where \(\binom{x}{k}\) denotes the \(q\)-binomial coefficient.

Jinko Kanno1, Naoki Matsumoto2, Jianning Su3, Ko Yamamoto4
1Program of Mathematics and Statistics, Louisiana Tech University, USA,
2Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Japan,
3St. Catharine College, USA,
4College of Education and Human Sciences, Yokohama National University, Japan,
Abstract:

A pentangulation is a simple plane graph such that each face is bounded by a cycle of length \(5\). We consider two diagonal transformations in pentangulations, called \(\mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{B}\). In this paper, we shall prove that any two pentangulations with the same number of vertices can be transformed into each other by \(\mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{B}\). In particular, if they are not isomorphic to a special pentangulation, then we do not need \(\mathcal{B}\).

Amalorpava Jerline J1, Benedict Michaelraj L2, Dhanalakshmi K1, Syamala P2
1Department of Mathematics, Holy Cross College, Trichy 620 002, India
2Department of Mathematics, St. Joseph’s College, Trichy 620 002, India
Abstract:

The harmonic index \(H(G)\) of a graph \(G\) is defined as the sum of the weights of all edges \(uv\) of \(G\), where the weight of \(uv\) is \(\frac{2}{d(u) + d(v)}\), with \(d(u)\) denoting the degree of the vertex \(u\) in \(G\). In this work, we compute the harmonic index of a graph with a cut-vertex and with more than one cut-vertex. As an application, this topological index is computed for Bethe trees and dendrimer trees. Also, the harmonic indices of Fasciagraph and a special type of trees, namely, polytree, are computed.

Zhongmei Qin1, Jianfeng Wang1,2, Kang Yang1
1Center for Combinatorics and LPMC-TJKLC, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
2Department of Mathematics, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, Qinghai 810008, China
Abstract:

Let \(G^{\sigma}\) be an oriented graph obtained by assigning an orientation \(\sigma\) to the edge set of a simple undirected graph \(G\). Let \(S(G^{\sigma})\) be the skew adjacency matrix of \(G^{\sigma}\). The skew energy of \(G^{\sigma}\) is defined as the sum of the absolute values of all eigenvalues of \(S(G^{\sigma})\). In this paper, we give the skew energy order of a family of digraphs and determine the oriented bicyclic graphs of order \(n \geq 13\) with the first five largest skew energies, which extends the results of the paper [X. Shen, Y. Hou, C. Zhang, Bicyclic digraphs with extremal skew energy, Electron. J. Linear Algebra 23 (2012) 340-355].

Maorong Sun1, Lily J. Jin2
1Department of Mathematics, Jiangsu University, Jiangsu Zhenjiang 212013, P. R. China
2School of Mathematics, Nanjing Normal University, Taizhou College, Jiangsu, Taizhou 225300, P. R. China
Abstract:

Let \(P_n\) denote the \(n\)-th Catalan-Larcombe-French number. Recently, the \(2\)-log-convexity of the Catalan-Larcombe-French sequence was proved by Sun and Wu. Moreover, they also conjectured that the quotient sequence \(\{\frac{P_{n}}{P_{n-1}}\}_{n= 0}^\infty\) of the Catalan-Larcombe-French sequence is log-concave. In this paper, this conjecture is confirmed by utilizing the upper and lower bounds for \(\frac{P_{n}}{P_{n-1}}\) and finding a middle function \(f(n)\).

Mobeen Munir1, Abdul Rauf Nizami2, Zaffar Iqbal3, Huma Saeed4
1Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore-Pakistan
2Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore-Pakistan
3Department of Mathematics. University of Gujrat, Gujrat-Pakistan
4Division of Science and ‘Technology, University of Education, Lahore-Pakistan
Abstract:

It is claimed in [13] that the metric dimension of the Möbius ladder \(M_n\) is \(3\) when \(n \not\equiv 2 \pmod{8}\), but it is wrong; we give a counterexample when \(n \equiv 6 \pmod{8}\). In this paper, we not only give the correct metric dimension in this case but also solve the open problem regarding the metric dimension of \(M_n\) when \(n \equiv 2 \pmod{8}\). Moreover, we conclude that \(M_n\) has two subfamilies with constant metric dimensions.

Guoliang Hao1
1College of Science, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330013, P.R.China
Abstract:

An edge-colored graph \(G\) is (strong) rainbow connected if any two vertices are connected by a (geodesic) path whose edges have distinct colors. The (strong) rainbow connection number of a connected graph \(G\), denoted by \(\mathrm{src}(G)\) (resp. \(\mathrm{rc}(G)\)), is the smallest number of colors that are needed in order to make \(G\) (strong) rainbow connected. The join \(P_m \vee P_n\) of \(P_m\) and \(P_n\) is the graph consisting of \(P_m\cup P_n\), and all edges between every vertex of \(P_m\) and every vertex of \(P_n\), where \(P_m\) (resp. \(P_n\)) is a path of \(m\) (resp. \(n\)) vertices. In this paper, the precise values of \(\mathrm{rc}(P_m \vee P_n)\) and \(\mathrm{src}(P_m \vee P_n)\) are given for any positive integers \(m\) and \(n\).

Mohammadreza Rostami1, Modjtaba Ghorbani2
1Faculty of Science, Mahallat institute of Higher Education, Mahatiat,I. R. Iran
2Department of Mathematies, Faculty of Science, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, 16785 — 136, 1 R. iran
Abstract:

Let \(MG(i,n)\) be a connected molecular graph without multiple edges on \(n\)vertices whose minimum degree of vertices is \(i\), where \(i \leq i \leq 4\). One of the newest topological indices is the first Geometric-Arithmetic index. In this paper, we determine the graph with the minimum and the maximum value of the first Geometric-Arithmetic index in the family of graphs \(M{G}(i,n)\),\(l\leq i \leq 3\).

Helin Gong1,2, Metrose Metsidik 3
1 Department of Fundamental Courses, Zhejiang Industry Polytechnic College Shaoxing, Zhejiang 312000, China
2Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Mathematical and Statistical Model, Guangxi Normal University, Guangxi 541004, China
3School of Mathematical Science, Xiamen University Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China
Abstract:

Two graphs are said to be Tutte-equivalent if their Tutte polynomials are equal. In this paper, we provide several different constructions for Tutte-equivalent graphs, including some that are not self-complementary but Tutte-equivalent to their complements (the Akiyama-Harary problem) and some “large” Tutte-equivalent graphs obtained from “small” Tutte-equivalent graphs by \(2\)-sum operations.