Growth: A Journal of Mathematics and Mathematics Education

ISSN: xxxx-xxxx

Growth: A Journal of Mathematics and Mathematics Education aims to provide a publication platform for high quality undergraduate research in mathematics and in mathematical pedagogy. The technical scope of the journal is combinatorial mathematics, broadly interpreted—the editorial board will consider all submissions in their areas of interest. All submitted articles must have an undergraduate research component and must be certified by a senior researcher. All submissions will be peer reviewed according to standard practices in academic mathematics. Precise editorial policies are set by the editorial board.

Jing Li1, Bo Zhou1
1School of Mathematical Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, P.R. China
Abstract:

We determine the signless Laplacian spectrum for the \( H \)-join of regular graphs \( G_1, \ldots, G_p \). We also find an expression and upper bounds for the signless Laplacian spread of the \( H \)-join of regular graphs \( G_1, \ldots, G_p \).

Jessie Deering1, Teresa W. Haynes1, Stephen T. Hedetniemi2, William Jamieson1
1Department of Mathematics and Statistics East Tennessee State University Johnson City, TN 37614 USA
2Professor Emeritus School of Computing Clemson University Clemson, SC 29634 USA
Abstract:

Placing degree constraints on the vertices of a path yields the definitions of uphill and downhill paths. Specifically, we say that a path \( \pi = v_1, v_2, \ldots, v_{k+1} \) is a downhill path if for every \( i \), \( 1 \leq i \leq k \), \( \deg(v_i) \geq \deg(v_{i+1}) \). Conversely, a path \( \pi = u_1, u_2, \ldots, u_{k+1} \) is an uphill path if for every \( i \), \( 1 \leq i \leq k \), \( \deg(u_i) \leq \deg(u_{i+1}) \). The downhill domination number of a graph \( G \) is defined to be the minimum cardinality of a set \( S \) of vertices such that every vertex in \( V \) lies on a downhill path from some vertex in \( S \). The uphill domination number is defined as expected. We explore the properties of these invariants and their relationships with other invariants. We also determine a Vizing-like result for the downhill (respectively, uphill) domination numbers of Cartesian products.

R. Hollander Shabtai1, Y. Roditty 2
1School of Computer Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel and Afeka College of Engineering, Tel-Aviv 69460, Israel
2School of Computer Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel and School of Computer Sciences, The Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo, Tel-Aviv 61161, Israel.
Abstract:

Set-to-Set Broadcasting is an information distribution problem in a connected graph, \( G = (V, E) \), in which a set of vertices \( A \), called originators, distributes messages to a set of vertices \( B \) called receivers, such that by the end of the broadcasting process each receiver has received the messages of all the originators. This is done by placing a series of calls among the communication lines of the graph. Each call takes place between two adjacent vertices, which share all the messages they have. Gossiping is a special case of set-to-set broadcasting, where \( A = B = V \). We use \( F(A, B, G) \) to denote the length of the shortest sequence of calls that completes the set-to-set broadcast from a set \( A \) of originators to a set \( B \) of receivers, within a connected graph \( G \). \( F(A, B, G) \) is also called the cost of an algorithm. We present bounds on \( F(A, B, G) \) for weighted and for non-weighted graphs.

J. David Taylor1, Lucas C. van der Merwe1
1Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chattanooga, TN 37403 USA
Abstract:

Let \( \gamma_c(G) \) denote the connected domination number of the graph \( G \). A graph \( G \) is said to be connected domination edge critical, or simply \( \gamma_c \)-critical, if \( \gamma_c(G + e) < \gamma_c(G) \) for each edge \( e \in E(\overline{G}) \). We answer a question posed by Zhao and Cao concerning \( \gamma_c \)-critical graphs with maximum diameter.

Juan Du1, Damei Lv2
1 Department of Mathematics, Nantong University, Nantong 210007, P.R.China
2 Department of Mathematics, Nantong University, Nantong 210007, P.R.China
Abstract:

For a positive integer \(d \geq 1\), an \(L(d, 1)\)-labeling of a graph \(G\) is an assignment of nonnegative integers to \(V(G)\) such that the difference between labels of adjacent vertices is at least \(d\), and the difference between labels of vertices that are distance two apart is at least \(1\). The span of an \(L(d, 1)\)-labeling of a graph \(G\) is the difference between the maximum and minimum integers used by it. The minimum span of an \(L(d, 1)\)-labeling of \(G\) is denoted by \(\lambda(G)\). In [17], we obtained that \(r\Delta + 1 \leq \lambda(G(rP_5)) \leq r\Delta + 2\), \(\lambda(G(rP_k)) = r\Delta + 1\) for \(k \geq 6\); and \(\lambda(G(rP_4)) \leq (\Delta + 1)r + 1\), \(\lambda(G(rP_3)) \leq (\Delta + 1)r + \Delta\) for any graph \(G\) with maximum degree \(\Delta\). In this paper, we will focus on \(L(d, 1)\)-labelings of the edge-multiplicity-path-replacement \(G(rP_k)\) of a graph \(G\) for \(r \geq 2\), \(d \geq 3\), and \(k \geq 3\). And we show that the class of graphs \(G(rP_k)\) with \(k \geq 3\) satisfies the conjecture proposed by Havet and Yu [7].

M. Afkhami1,2, M. Farrokhi D. G.3, K. Khashayarmanesh3,2
1Department of Mathematics, University of Neyshabur, P.O.Box 91136-899, Neyshabur, Iran
2School of Mathematics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences(IPM), P.O.Box 19395-5746, Tehran, Iran
3Department of Pure Mathematics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, P.O.Box 1159-91775, Mashhad, Iran
Abstract:

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with non-zero identity. The cozero-divisor graph of \(R\), denoted by \(\Gamma'(R)\), is a graph with vertex-set \(W^*(R)\), which is the set of all non-zero non-unit elements of \(R\), and two distinct vertices \(a\) and \(b\) in \(W^*(R)\) are adjacent if and only if \(a \not\in Rb\) and \(b \not\in Ra\), where for \(c \in R\), \(Rc\) is the ideal generated by \(c\). In this paper, we completely determine all finite commutative rings \(R\) such that \(\Gamma'(R)\) is planar, outerplanar and a ring graph.

Shang-wang Tan1, Qi-long Wang1
1Department of Mathematics China University of Petroleum Qingdao 266580, China
Abstract:

The Wiener index is the sum of distances between all pairs of vertices in a connected graph. A cactus is a connected graph in which any two of its cycles have at most one common vertex. In this article, we present some graphic transformations and derive the formulas for calculating the Wiener index of new graphs. With these transformations, we characterize the graphs having the smallest Wiener index among all cacti given matching number and cycle number.

Nader Jafari Rad1,2
1Department of Mathematics, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
2School of Mathematics Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM) P.O. Box 19395-5746, Tehran, Iran
Abstract:

A Roman dominating function on a graph \(G\) is a function \(f: V(G) \to \{0, 1, 2\}\) satisfying the condition that every vertex \(u\) of \(G\) for which \(f(u) = 0\) is adjacent to at least one vertex \(v\) of \(G\) for which \(f(v) = 2\). The weight of a Roman dominating function is the value \(f(V(G)) = \sum_{u \in V(G)} f(u)\). The Roman domination number, \(\gamma_R(G)\), of \(G\) is the minimum weight of a Roman dominating function on \(G\). A graph \(G\) is said to be Roman domination edge critical, or simply \(\gamma_R\)-edge critical, if \(\gamma_R(G + e) < \gamma_R(G)\) for any edge \(e \not\in E(G)\). In this paper, we characterize all \(\gamma_R\)-edge critical connected graphs having precisely two cycles.

A. Ikhani1, D. Kiani1,2
1Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Amirkabir University of Technology, P.O. Box 15875-4413, Tehran, Iran
2School of Mathematics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), P.O. Box 19395-5746, Tehran, Iran
Abstract:

An \(h\)-edge-coloring (block-coloring) of type \(s\) of a graph \(G\) is an assignment of \(h\) colors to the edges (blocks) of \(G\) such that for every vertex \(x\) of \(G\), the edges (blocks) incident with \(x\) are colored with \(s\) colors. For every color \(i\), \(\xi_{x,i}\) (\(\mathcal{B}_{x,i}\)) denotes the set of all edges (blocks) incident with \(x\) and colored by \(i\). An \(h\)-edge-coloring (\(h\)-block-coloring) of type \(s\) is equitable if for every vertex \(x\) and for colors \(i\), \(j\), \(||\xi_{x,i}| – |\xi_{x,j}|| \leq 1\) (\(||\mathcal{B}_{x,i}| – |\mathcal{B}_{x,j}|| \leq 1\)). In this paper, we study the existence of \(h\)-edge-colorings of type \(s = 2,3\) of \(K_t\) and then show that the solution of this problem induces the solution of the existence of a \(C_4\)-\(_tK_2\)-design having an equitable \(h\)-block-coloring of type \(s = 2,3\).

M.I. Jinnah1, Shayida R2
1Formerly Professor, Department of Mathematics, Kerala University, Thiruvananthapuram.
2Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Farook College, Kozhikode.
Abstract:

G. Chartrand et al. [3] define a graph \(G\) without isolated vertices to be the least common multiple (lcm) of two graphs \(G_1\) and \(G_2\) if \(G\) is a graph of minimum size such that \(G\) is both \(G_1\)-decomposable and \(G_2\)-decomposable. A bi-star \(B_{m,n}\) is a caterpillar with spine length one. In this paper, we discuss a good lower bound for \(lcm(B_{m,n}, G)\), where \(G\) is a simple graph. We also investigate \(lcm(B_{m,n}, rK_2)\) and provide a good lower bound and an appropriate upper bound for \(lcm(B_{m,n}, P_{r+1})\) for all \(m \geq 1\), \(n \geq 1\), and \(r \geq 1\).

Special Issues

The Combinatorial Press Editorial Office routinely extends invitations to scholars for the guest editing of Special Issues, focusing on topics of interest to the scientific community. We actively encourage proposals from our readers and authors, directly submitted to us, encompassing subjects within their respective fields of expertise. The Editorial Team, in conjunction with the Editor-in-Chief, will supervise the appointment of Guest Editors and scrutinize Special Issue proposals to ensure content relevance and appropriateness for the journal. To propose a Special Issue, kindly complete all required information for submission;