Growth: A Journal of Mathematics and Mathematics Education
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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.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 161-164
- Published: 31/01/2016
An \((s, t)\)-spread in a finite vector space \(V = V(n, q)\) is a collection \(\mathcal{F}\) of \(t\)-dimensional subspaces of \(V\) with the property that every \(s\)-dimensional subspace of \(V\) is contained in exactly one member of \(F\). It is remarkable that no \((s, t)\)-spreads have been found yet, except in the case \(s = 1\).
In this note, the concept of an \(\alpha\)-point to a \((2,3)\)-spread \(\mathcal{F}\) in \(V = V(7,2)\) is introduced. A classical result of Thomas, applied to the vector space \(V\), states that all points of \(V\) cannot be \(\alpha\)-points to a given \((2,3)\)-spread \(\mathcal{F}\) in \(V\). In this note, we strengthen this result by proving that every \(6\)-dimensional subspace of \(V\) must contain at least one point that is not an \(\alpha\)-point to a given \((2, 3)\)-spread.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 153-159
- Published: 31/01/2016
We construct explicitly the automorphism group of the folded hypercube \(FQ_n\) of dimension \(n > 3\), as a semidirect product of \(N\) by \(M\), where \(N\) is isomorphic to the Abelian group \(\mathbb{Z}_2^{n}\), and \(M\) is isomorphic to \(\mathrm{Sym}(n+1)\), the symmetric group of degree \(n+1\). Then, we will show that the folded hypercube \(FQ_n\) is a symmetric graph.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 129-151
- Published: 31/01/2016
The Merrifield-Simmons index \(\sigma(G)\) of a graph \(G\) is defined as the number of subsets of the vertex set, in which any two vertices are non-adjacent, i.e., the number of independent vertex sets of \(G\). A tree is called an \(r\)-leaf tree if it contains \(r\) vertices with degree one. In this paper, we obtain the smallest Merrifield-Simmons index among all trees with \(n\) vertices and exactly six leaves, and characterize the corresponding extremal graph.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 111-128
- Published: 31/01/2016
A family \(\mathcal{G}\) of connected graphs is a family with constant metric dimension if \(\dim(G)\) is finite and does not depend upon the choice of \(G\) in \(\mathcal{G}\). The metric dimension of some classes of plane graphs has been determined in \([2], [3],[ 4], [9], [10], [14], [22]\). In this paper, we extend this study by considering some classes of plane graphs which are rotationally-symmetric. It is natural to ask for the characterization of classes of rotationally-symmetric plane graphs with constant metric dimension.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 95-109
- Published: 31/01/2016
is almost locally connected if \(B(G)\) is an independent set and for any \(x \in B(G)\), there is a vertex \(y\) in \(V(G) \setminus \{x\}\) such that \(N(x) \cup \{y\}\) induces a connected subgraph of \(G\), where \(B(G)\) denotes the set of vertices of \(G\) that are not locally connected. In this paper, we prove that an almost locally connected claw-free graph on at least \(4\) vertices is Hamilton-connected if and only if it is \(3\)-connected. This generalizes a result by Asratian that a locally connected claw-free graph on at least \(4\) vertices is Hamilton-connected if and only if it is \(3\)-connected [Journal of Graph Theory \(23 (1996) 191-201\)].
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 85-93
- Published: 31/01/2016
We give new expressions for Stirling numbers, and some partial sums of powers and products.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 65-84
- Published: 31/01/2016
A star coloring of an undirected graph \(G\) is a proper vertex coloring of \(G\) such that any path on four vertices in \(G\) is not bicolored. The star chromatic number \(\chi_s(G)\) of an undirected graph \(G\) is the smallest integer \(k\) for which \(G\) admits a star coloring with \(k\) colors. In this paper, the star chromatic numbers for some infinite subgraphs of Cartesian products of paths and cycles are established. In particular, we show that \(\chi_s(P_i \Box C_j) = 5\) for \(i, j \geq 4\) and \(\chi_s(C_i \Box C_j) = 5\) for \(i, j \geq 30\). We also show that \(\chi_s(P_i \Box P_j \Box P_k) = 6\) for \(i, j, k \geq 4\), \(\chi_s(C_{3} \Box C_{3} \Box C_k) = 7\) for \(k \geq 3\), and \(\chi_s(C_{4i} \Box C_{4j} \Box P_{4k} \Box C_{4l}) \leq 9\) for \(i, j, k, l \geq 1\). Furthermore, we give the star chromatic numbers of \(d\)-dimensional hypercubes for \(d \leq 6\).
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 49-64
- Published: 31/01/2016
Mixed connectivity is a generalization of vertex and edge connectivity. A graph is \((p,0)\)-connected, \(p \geq 0\), if the graph remains connected after removal of any \(p – 1\) vertices. A graph is \((p,q)\)-connected, \(p \geq 0\), \(q \geq 0\), if it remains connected after removal of any \(p\) vertices and any \(q – 1\) edges. Cartesian graph bundles are graphs that generalize both covering graphs and Cartesian graph products. It is shown that if graph \(F\) is \((p_F, q_F)\)-connected and graph \(B\) is \((p_B, q_B)\)-connected, then Cartesian graph bundle \(G\) with fibre \(F\) over the base graph \(B\) is \((p_F + p_B, q_F + q_B)\)-connected. Furthermore, if \(q_F + p_B \geq 0\), then \(G\) is also \((p_F + p_B + 1, q_F + p_B – 1)\)-connected. Finally, let graphs \(G_i\), \(i = 1, \ldots, n\), be \((p_i, q_i)\)-connected and let \(k\) be the number of graphs with \(q_i > 0\). The Cartesian graph product \(G = G_1 \Box G_2 \Box \ldots \Box G_n\) is \((\sum p_i, \sum q_i)\)-connected, and, for \(k \geq 1\), it is also \((\sum p_i + k – 1, \sum q_i – k + 1)\)-connected.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 41-48
- Published: 31/01/2016
Let \(\gamma_t(D)\) denote the total domination number of a digraph \(D\), and let \(C_m \Box C_n\) denote the Cartesian product graph of \(C_m\) and \(C_n\), where \(C_m\) denotes the directed cycle of length \(m\), \(m \leq n\). In [On domination number of Cartesian product of directed cycles, Information Processing Letters 110 (2010) 171-173], Liu et al. determined the domination number of \(C_2 \Box C_n\), \(C_3 \Box C_n\), and \(C_4 \Box C_n\). In this paper, we determine the exact values of \(\gamma_t(C_m \Box C_n)\) when at least one of \(m\) and \(n\) is even, or \(n\) is odd and \(m = 1, 3, 5,\) or \(7\).
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 124
- Pages: 33-40
- Published: 31/01/2016
In this paper, a new type of labeled graphs, called modular multiplicative graphs, is introduced and studied. Specifically, we show that every graph is a subgraph of a modular multiplicative graph. Later, we introduce \(k\)-modular multiplicative graphs and prove that certain families of paths and cycles admit such a label. We conclude with several open problems and areas of future possible research, including a note on harmonious graph labels.




