Abstract
The distance between two vertices is the basis of the definition of several graph parameters including diameter, radius, average distance and metric dimension. These invariants are examined, especially how they relate to one another and to other graph invariants and their behaviour in certain graph classes. We also discuss characterizations of graph classes described in terms of distance or shortest paths. Finally, generalizations are considered.
MSC2000: Primary 05C12; Secondary 05C20, 05C38
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Althöfer I (1990) Average distances in undirected graphs and the removal of vertices. J Combin Theory B 48(1):140–142
Bandelt H-J, Mulder HM (1986) Distance–hereditary graphs. J Combin Theory B 41:182–208
Beezer RA, Riegsecker JE, Smith BA (2001) Using minimum degree to bound average distance. Discrete Math 226:365–371
Beineke LW, Oellermann OR, Pippert RE (1996) On the Steiner median of a tree. Discrete Appl Math 68:249–258
Bienstock D, Györi E (1988) Average distance in graphs with removed elements. J Graph Theory 12(3):375–390
Bonato A (2005) A survey of models of the web graph. In: Combinatorial and algorithmic aspects of networking, vol 3405, Lecture notes in computer science. Springer, Berlin, pp 159–172
Buckley F, Harary F (1990) Distance in graphs. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Advanced Book Program, Redwood City, CA
Buckley F, Lewinter M (1988) A note on graphs with diameter-preserving spanning trees. J Graph Theory 12(4):525–528
Buckley F, Miller Z, Slater PJ (1981) On graphs containing a given graph as center. J Graph Theory 5:427–432
Cáceres J, Hernando C, Mora M, Pelayo IM, Puertas ML, Seara C, Wood DR (2007) On the metric dimension of the cartesian product of graphs. SIAM J Discrete Math 21(2):423–441
Cáceres J, Oellermann OR (2009) On 3-Steiner simplicial orderings. Discrete Math 309: 5828–5833
Chartrand G, Eroh L, Johnson MA, Oellermann OR (2000) Resolvability in graphs and the metric dimension of a graph. Discrete Appl Math 105:99–113
Chartrand G, Oellermann OR, Tian S, Zou HB (1989) Steiner distance in graphs. Časopis Pro Pěstování Matematiky 114(4):399–410
Chung FRK (1988) The average distance and the independence number of a graph. J Graph Theory 12:229–235
Chvátal V, Thomassen C (1978) Distances in orientations of graphs. J Combin Theory B 24:61–75
Cockayne EJ, Hedetniemi SM, Hedetniemi ST (1981) Linear algorithms for finding the Jordan center and path center of a tree. Transport Sci 15:98–114
Dankelmann P Average distance in graphs – a survey, (submitted)
Dankelmann P, Oellermann OR, Swart HC (1996) The average Steiner distance of a graph. J Graph Theory 22(1):15–22
Dankelmann P, Oellermann OR, Wu J-L (2004) Minimum average distance of strong orientations of graphs. Discrete Appl Math 143:204–212
D’Atri A, Moscarini M (1988) Steiner trees and connected domination. SIAM J Discrete Math 17:521–538
Dirac GA (1961) On rigid circuit graphs. Abh Math Sem Univ Hamburg 25:71–76
Doyle JK, Graver JE (1977) Mean distance in a graph. Discrete Math 7(2):147–154
Dragan FF, Nicolai F, Brandstädt A (1999) Convexity and HHD-free graphs. SIAM J Discrete Math 12:119–135
Entringer RC, Jackson DE, Snyder DA (1976) Distance in graphs. Czech Math J 26:283–296
Entringer RC, Kleitman DJ, Székely LA (1996) A note on spanning trees with minimum average distance. Bull Inst Combinator Appl 17:71–78
Erdös P, Rényi A (1963) On two problems of information theory. Magyar Tud Akad Mat Kutató Int Közl 8:229–243
Fajtlowicz S (1986) On two conjectures of GRAFFITI. Congr Numer 55:51–56
Fajtlowicz S (1987) On conjectures of GRAFFITI II. Congr Numer 60:187–197
Farber M, Jamison RE (1986) Convexity in graphs and hypergraphs. SIAM J Algebra Discrete Methods 7:433–444
Favaron O, Kouider M, Mahéo M (1989) Edge-vulnerability and mean distance. Networks 19(5):493–504
Floyd RW (1962) Algorithm 97: shortest path. Commun ACM 5:345
Freeman LC (1978/1979) Centrality in social networks: conceptual clarification. Soc Networks 1:215–239
Füredi Z, Horak P, Pareek CM, Zhu X (1998) Minimal oriented graphs of diameter 2. Graph Combinator 14:345–350
Garey MR, Johnson DS (1979) Computers and intractibility: a guide to the theory of NP-completeness. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York
Goddard W, Swart CS, Swart HC (2005) On the graphs with maximum distance or k-diameter. Math Slovaca 55(2):131–139
Györi E (1988) On Winkler’s four thirds conjecture on mean distance in graphs. Congr Numer 61:259–262
Hammer PL, Maffray F (1990) Completely separable graphs. J Discrete Appl Math 27:85–99
Harary F (1962) The maximum connectivity of a graph. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 48: 1142–1146
Harary F, Melter RA (1976) On the metric dimension of a graph. Ars Combinatoria 2:191–195
Harary F, Norman RZ (1953) The dissimilarity characteristic of Husimi trees. Ann Math (2) 58:134–141
Howorka E (1977) A characterization of distance-hereditary graphs. Quart J Math Oxford 28:417–420
Jeong H, Mason SP, Barabási A-L, Oltvai ZN (2001) Lethality and centrality in protein networks. Nature 411:41–42
Johnson DS, Lenstra JK, Rinnooy-Kan AHG (1978) The complexity of the network design problem. Networks 8:279–285
Jordan C (1869) Sur les assembalges des lignes. J Reine Angew Math 70:185–190
Khuller S, Raghavachari B, Rosenfeld A (1996) Landmarks in graphs. Discrete Appl Math 70(3):217–229
Kouider M, Winkler P (1997) Mean distance and minimum degree. J Graph Theory 25:95–99
Landau HG (1953) On dominance relations and the structure of animal societies. III. The condition for a score structure. Bull Math Biophys 15:143–148
Laskar R, Shier D (1983) On powers and centers of chordal graphs. Discrete Appl Math 6(2):139–147
Lekkerkerker CG, Boland J (1962) Representation of a finite graph by a set of intervals on the real line. Fund Math 51:45–64
Lindström B (1964) On a combinatory detection problem. I. Magyar Tud Akad Mat Kutató Int Közl 9:195–207
Lovász L (1979) Combinatorial problems and exercises. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapset
March L, Steadman P (1974) The geometry of environment: an introduction to spatial organization in design. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Merris R (1989) An edge version of the matrix-tree theorem and the Wiener index. Linear Multilinear Algebra 25(4):291–296
Mohar B (1991) Eigenvalues, diameter, and mean distance in graphs. Graph Combinator 7(1):53–64
Mulder HM (1980) The interval function of a graph. Mathematical Centre Tracts, Amsterdam
Mulder HM (1980) n-cubes and median graphs. J Graph Theory 4:107–110
Ng CP, Teh HH (1966/1967) On finite graphs of diameter 2. Nanta Math 1:72–75
Nielsen M, Oellermann OR (2009) Steiner trees and convex geometries. SIAM J Discrete Math 23:680–693
Oellermann OR (1995) From Steiner centers to Steiner medians. J Graph Theory 20(2): 113–122
Oellermann OR, Tian S (1990) Steiner centers in graphs. J Graph Theory 14(5):585–597
Plesník J (1975) Note on diametrically critical graphs. In: Recent advances in graph theory (Proceedings of the 2nd Czechoslovak symposium, Prague, 1974). Academia, Prague, pp 455–465
Plesník J (1984) On the sum of all distance in a graph or digraph. J Graph Theory 8:1–24
Robbins HE (1939) Questions, discussions, and notes: a theorem on graphs, with an application to a problem of traffic control. Am Math Mon 46(5):281–283
Rodriguez JA, Yebra JLA (1999) Bounding the diameter and the mean distance of a graph from its eigenvalues: Laplacian versus adjacency matrix methods. Discrete Math 196(1–3):267–275
Sebö A, Tannier E (2004) On metric generators of graphs. Math Oper Res 29(2):383–393
Slater PJ (1975) Leaves of trees. Congr Numer 14:549–559
Slater PJ (1978) Centers to centroids in graphs. J Graph Theory 2:209–222
Slater PJ (1981) Centrality of paths and vertices in a graph: cores and pits. In: The theory and applications of graphs. Wiley, New York, pp 529–542
S̆oltés L (1991) Transmission in graphs: a bound and vertex removing. Math Slovaca 41(1): 11–16
Swart CS (1996) Distance measures in graphs and subgraphs. Master’s thesis, University of Natal, Durban
Vizing VG (1967) On the number of edges in a graph with a given radius. Dokl Akad Nauk SSSR 173:1245–1246
Wiener H (1947) Structural determination of paraffin boiling points. J Am Chem Soc 69(1): 17–20
Winkler P (1986) Mean distance and the four thirds conjecture. Congr Numer 54:53–61
Winkler P (1989) Graph theory in memory of G.A. Dirac. In: Proceedings of meeting in Sandbjerg, Denmark, 1985, Ann Discrete Math, North-Holland, Amsterdam
Winter P (1987) Steiner problem in networks: a survey. Networks 17:129–167
Wong R (1980) Worst-case analysis of network design problem heuristics. SIAM J Algebra Discrete Methods 1:51–63
Zelinka B (1968) Medians and peripherians of trees. Arch Math (Brno) 4:87–95
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Peter Dankelmann for sharing his thoughts on average distance with us.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Goddard, W., Oellermann, O.R. (2011). Distance in Graphs. In: Dehmer, M. (eds) Structural Analysis of Complex Networks. Birkhäuser Boston. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-8176-4789-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-8176-4789-6_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Boston
Print ISBN: 978-0-8176-4788-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-8176-4789-6
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)